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The  York  Road, 

Old  and  New. 


II.LXJSTIlA.TEi:). 


—BY— 

Rev.  S.  F.  HOTCHKIN,  M.A., 

Author  of  the  Mornings  of  the  Bible;    Early  Clergy  of  Pennsylvania  and 
Delaware ;  Country  Clergy  of  Pennsylvania ;  History  of  German- 
town;  and  a  Gazetteer  of  Pennsylvania. 


BINDER   &   KELLY,   Publishers, 

Nos.  518-520  Minor  Street, 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 

1892. 


\/7H7 


Copyright,  By  BINDER  &  KELLY,  1892. 


This  book  is  respectfully  dedicated  to 

ROBERT  SHOEMAKER, 

who  nobly  perpetuates  the  honors  of  an  ancient  family,  who 
for   many  generations   have    dwelt   in  the  region  of  country 
described  in  this  volume. 


ivil265S0 


The  writer  of  this  volume  was  first  drawn  into  the  field  of  local  Penn- 
sylvania History  by  an  article  of  the  veteran  historian,  William  J.  Buck,  in 
Scott's  Atlas  of  Montgomery  County  on  Horsham,  including  a  sketch  of 
Lieutenant  Governor  Keith's  country-seat  of  Gra3me  Park.  The  investigation 
of  that  interesting  spot  led  him  to  describe  its  history  at  length  in  the  German- 
town  Telegraph  under  the  editorship  of  Mr.  Henry  W.  Raymond.  This  was 
followed  by  a  series  of  historic  papers  running  through  several  years,  largely 
condensing  and  continuing  the  late  Townsend  Ward's  valuable  work  on  the 
Germantown  Road,  w^hich  resulted  in  the  issue  of  the  volume  on  Germantown, 
Mount  Airy,  and  Chestnut  Hill,  which  was  kindly  received  by  the  public. 
As  York  Road  is  now  virtually  a  branch  of  Germantown  Road  it  is  but  natural 
to  continue  the  story  of  human  life,  ancient  and  modern,  as  it  is  presented  along 
that  highway  which  runi  through  one  of  the  interesting  suburbs  of  Phila- 
delphia in  its  beginning,  and  then  wanders  among  beautiful  hills  and  quiet 
vales  until  having  looked  on  Buckingham  mountain  it  bids  farewell  to  farm- 
house and  village  and  field  as  it  stops  abruptly  at  the  Delaware  River  as  far 
as  Pennsylvania  is  concerned  and  the  portion  treated  of  by  this  book.  The 
New  Hope  and  Centre  Bridges,  replacing  the  old  ferries,  continue  its  two  forks 
into  New  Jersey ;  but  there  we  leave  it  to  find  its  way  among  the  beautiful 
hills  about  Lambertville  to  its  destination. 

Modern  history  soon  becomes  ancient,  as  the  individuals  mentioned  glide 
away ;  and  from  the  day  of  the  issue  of  a  book  the  names  recorded  begin  to  be 
obituary  notices.  The  road  is  a  journey  to  a  city  ;  may  the  earthly  life  when 
its  milestone  birthdays  are  passed,  end  in  the  heavenly  Jerusalem  by  Christ's 
guidance. 

"  All  journeys  end  in  welcome  to  the  weary, 

And  heaven,  the  heart's  true  home,  will  come  at  last." 

The  publishers  have  greatly  increased  the  value  of  this  work  by  inserting 
many  plates  which  will  vividly  recall  the  road  scenes  to  the  reader  who  is 
familiar  with  them. 


TfiB  Yofl^  [(oad,  DM  aqd  fm. 


-BY- 


i^E-v".  s.  IF.  HOTomciisr. 


America  delights  to  repeat  English  names,  as  the  early  settlers  longed  to 
review  their  associations  with  their  old  homes. 

The  English  city  of  York,  was,  before  the  Roman  invasion,  originally 
called  "  '  Ebrauc,  Eburac,  or  Eborac,'  supposed  to  mean  in  Celtic,  a  town  or  for- 
tified place  on  the  banks  of  a  river,  or  near  the  confluence  of  waters."  (Anthon's 
Ancient  and  Mediaeval  Geography,  p.  200).  The  Romans  gave  it  the  name 
Eboracum.  The  Angles  afterward  styled  it  Everwick,  and  the  Danes  Jorwick, 
which  is  pronounced  York. 

The  Roman  Emperor  Severus  died  at  York,  A.  D.  205,  and  Constantino 
Chlorus  died  there  in  306.  His  son,  Constantine  the  Great,  who  succeeded 
him,  was  born  at  York,  and  proclaimed  Emperor  in  that  town.  The  Emperor 
Maximus  was  born  there.  Marshal  General  Plantagenet-Harrison,  who  claims 
to  have  royal  blood  in  his  veins,  notes  these  interesting  facts  in  his  splendid 
quarto  volume  on  the  History  of  Yorkshire. 

So  the  thought  of  many  nations  is  awakened  by  the  word  "  York  ".  The 
English  town  at  the  confluence  of  the  rivers  Ouse  and  Foss  was  practically  the 
capital  of  the  north  of  England,  being  near  the  centre  of  Great  Britain.  Its 
cathedral  has  been  noted  for  centuries,  Ebraucus,  son  of  a  British  king 
named  Mempricius,  is  said  to  have  built  the  town.  The  Ouse  was  originally 
called  Eure  or  Ure.     (Thomas  Allen's  History  of  York,  vol.  1,  p.  225). 

Humphrey  Lloyd,  the  learned  Welsh  antiquary,  in  mentioning  the 
Brigantine  towns  that  are  in  Ptolemy's  Geography  says,  "  Eboracum  is  well 
known  to  be  the  very  same  city  that  the  Britons  called  Casr-Effroc ;  it  is  now 

(9) 


10  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

contracted  into  York.  "  (Nathaniel  WJiittock's  History  of  the  County  of  York, 
vol.  1,  p.  226).  Another  idea  was  that  the  river  Eure  combined  with  the  Saxon 
word  ivic  meaning  a  place  of  refuge  or  retreat.  A  castle  on  the  river  may 
have  been  the  origin  of  the  name,  but  there  are  other  theories  and  the  lapse  of 
centuries  makes  it  hard  to  trace  the  word. 

AVhile  New  York  honors  James  II,  who  was  Duke  of  York  and  Albany, 
when  his  brother  Charles  II  granted  him  the  territory  from  the  banks  of  the 
Connecticut  to  those  of  the  Delaware,  the  association  of  the  name  now  in  the 
mouths  of  all  who  dwell  on  the  well  known  "  Old  York  Road  "  widens  out  to 
other  English  memories. 

Yorktown  in  Virginia  recalls  the  time  when  Washington  overcame  Corn- 
wallis  in  battle,  and  the  sons  of  Old  and  New  England  proved  their  mettle; 
but  those  days  have  ended  in  peace  and  love  between  parent  and  children, 
and  York  River  sings  quietly  as  it  rolls  along,  of  unity  and  happiness.  York 
County  and  "  Little  York  ",  as  it  used  to  be  called,  are  Pennsylvania's  tribute 
to  the  name. 

Fifteen  post  offices  in  the  United  States  commemorate  the  name  York, 
and  some  of  them  are  found  in  Dakota,  Montana,  Nebraska  and  Georgia, 
showing  that  the  West  and  South  combine  to  keep  up  the  memor}'-  of  Eng- 
land. There  are  also  numerous  compounds  of  York  among  the  post 
offices,  including  Yorkshire  and  York  Road,  Carrol  county,  Maryland.  Even 
New  York  is  repeated  in  a  Texas  town  as  Philadelphia  is  in  various  places. 
There  are  four  New  Philadelphias. 

While  Westerners  cannot  make  their  new  towns  at  once  equal  the  name- 
sakes, they  do  feed  their  homesick  lonely  imaginations  with  recollections  of 
the  past.  Thus,  in  Holy  Scripture,  the  earthly  Jerusalem  is  to  be  comple- 
mented by  the  new  and  heavenly  Jerusalem  above. 

The  Old  York  Road  took  its  name  from  its  leading  from  Philadelphia  to 
New  York,  and  from  its  antiquity.  The  opening  of  roads  is  an  important 
affair  in  early  settlements.  The  Indian  trail,  the  blazed  trees,  and  the  foot- 
path are  followed  by  the  bridle-road,  and  then  the  cart  demands  a  wider  track. 
Governor  Beaver  has  lately  well-said  that  the  history  of  roads  is  the  history  of 
civilization,  and  the  Germantoivn  Telegraph  and  other  newspapers  have  kept 
that  idea  before  their  readers  and  urged  needed  improvements  in  highways. 

The  Old  York  Road  was  laid  out  in  A.  D.  1711  from  what  is  now  Centre 
Bridge  on  the  Delaware  river  to  Philadelphia.  A  branch  in  1722,  ran  from 
Willow  Grove  to  County  Line  in  Warrington,  being  the  commencement  of 
the  present  road  to  Doylestown  and  Easton.  The  York  Road  began  opposite 
John  Reading's  landing,  in  Solebury  township,  which  was  afterwards  known 
as  Howell's  Ferry,  and  is  now  Centre  Bridge.  This  is  four  miles  above  New 
Hope.  The  Road  ran  to  Buckingham  meeting-house,  which  was  built  about 
five  years  before  this  date.  It  passed  through  Thomas  Watson's  land,  near 
Bushington.  He  had  a  farm  in  Buckingham,  and  was  an  ancestor  of  Judge 
Watson,   and  was   one  of  those  appointed  to  lay  out  the  road.     Mattliew 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  11 

Hughes  was  another,  he  was  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  an  Assemblyman, 
and  lived  in  Buckingham.  Nathaniel  Bye  was  another  of  those  commis- 
sioned.    He  resided  near  the  line  of  Buckingham  and  Solebury. 

Watson  says,  (Annals,  vol.  2,  p.  99),  Bartholomew  Longstreth  first  opened 
the  York  Rctad  from  the  Billet  (Hatborough)  to  Neshaminy. 

W.  J.  Buck,  in  his  history  of  Mooreland,  states  that  Mr.  Longstreth  and 
others  opened  the  road  from  the  Billet  to  Neshaminy  in  1716.  The  road  ran 
to  Little  Neshaminy,  not  far  above  Hartsville.  About  1712  it  extended  up  to 
Hatborough. 

New  Fourth  street,  afterward  called  the  Old  York  Road,  was  opened  after 
the  Revolution,  and  ran  into  the  road  of  which  we  are  writing.  (Watson's 
Annals,  vol.  3,  p.  134).     (W.  P.  Hazard's  additional  volume). 

The  turnpikes  which  ran  out  of  Philadelphia  into  the  surrounding 
country  in  various  directions,  as  the  spokes  of  a  wheel  diverging  from  its  centre, 
showed  great  determination  and  energy  in  the  early  part  of  this  century. 
Money  was  scarcer  then  than  now,  and  probably  it  was  more  of  an  undertak- 
ing to  construct  those  roads  than  it  is  to  build  the  railways  of  to-day. 

When  the  Old  York  Road  extended  to  Hatborough  in  1712,  it  was  the 
first  highway  used  for  travel  to  Philadelphia  by  residents  of  the  upper  section 
of  Mooreland. 

In  the  "  Ancient  Streets  and  Homesteads  of  England ",  by  Alfred 
Rimmer,  with  an  introduction  by  Dean  Howson,  there  is  a  description  of  stag- 
ing days  which  fits  in  here.  It  is  from  "  The  Grand  Concern  of  England  ",  by 
A  Lover  of  his  Countrj'-,  A.  D.  1673.  It  laments  the  calling  of  passengers  from 
bed  to  get  into  coaches  an  hour  or  two  before  day.  The  travellers  were  hurried 
along  till  one,  two  or  three  hours  within  the  night,  sitting  stifled  with  heat  in 
summer,  and  choked  with  dust;  in  the  winter,  starving  or  freezing  with  cold, 
choked  with  fogs,  reaching  inns  by  torchlight,  too  late  to  sit  up  and  get 
supper,  and  next  morning  forced  into  coach  too  early  to  get  breakfast.  It  was 
necessary  to  ride  with  strangers,  often  sick,  ancient  or  diseased,  or  crying 
children. 

The  fellow-passengers  must  be  humored;  a  passenger  was  often  poisoned 
with  scents,  and  crippled  with  a  crowd  of  boxes  and  bundles.  Sometimes  he 
was  forced  to  wade  up  to  the  knees  in  mire  in  foul  ways,  and  then  sit  in  cold 
until  horses  were  sent  to  pull  the  coach  out.  The  coaches  were  rotten,  and 
the  tackle,  or  perch,  or  axle-tree  broken,  causing  a  wait  of  three  or  four  hours, 
sometimes  half  a  day,  and  then  a  necessity  of  travelling  all  night  to  make  up 
time  lost  (pp.  81,  82).     (This  man  was  not  an  optimist). 

The  Four  Roman  Roads  in  England  were  Watling  Street,  Hermin  Street, 
the  Fosse,  and  Ikning  Street  (p.  248).  Ikning  has  been  derived  possibly  from 
Ichnild  or  Icen  Elde,  that  is,  Old  Street.  It  has  also  been  thought  to  come 
from  the  nation  of  the  Iceni.  Ancient  roads  are  usually  unchanged,  as  Cony- 
beare  and  Howson  note  concerning  the  ancient  city  Thessalonica  in  their 
"  Life  and  Epistles  of  St.  Paul ",  (p.  335,  vol.  1.)     The  old  Roman  stone-paved 


12  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

roads  are  yet  known,  and  the  Appian  way  runs  its  old  course.  The  Romans 
had  abundance  of  labor  at  hand  among  their  captive  enemies  for  such  work, 
but  it  was  a  sad  labor,  and  we  are  better  off  without  it. 

In  "  Conversations  on  South  Sea  Missions  ",  published  by  the  Sunday 
School  Union  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  the  missionary,  Mr.  Wflliams,  thus 
describes  a  principal  road  :  "  A  good  road  called  '  the  parent  path  '  is  made  on 
the  island  of  Raratonga  and  nearly  encircles  it.  Both  sides  of  this  road  are 
well  shaded  by  wide-branching  trees,  such  as  the  banana,  chestnut,  (fee,  which 
protect  the  passengers  from  the  rays  of  the  tropical  sun,  and  afford  even  at 
midday,  the  luxury  of  shady  walks.  The  houses  of  the  inhabitants  are  placed 
from  10  to  30  yards  from  this  pathway,  and  some  of  them  are  described  as  being 
very  pretty.  The  pathways  to  the  houses  are  strewed  with  black  and  white 
pebbles ;  and  on  either  side  are  planted  the  tufted-top  Ti  tree  and  the  gigantic 
Taro.  A  few  stone  seats,  with  backs  also  of  stone,  are  usually  erected  in  front 
of  these  premises  by  the  side  of  the  '  parent  pathway  ' ;  and  here  in  the  cool  of 
the  evening  little  groups  form  to  talk  with  each  other  or  with  any  communi- 
cative person  who  may  happen  that  way." 

The  York  Road  may  well  be  styled  a  "  parent  path  "  as  many  roads  issue 
from  it,  and  the  pleasant  houses  which  line  it  are  such  a  feature  as  is  described 
in  this  South  Sea  Island  sketch. 

The  turnpike  recalls  the  Roman  roads,  which  Rev.  Dr.  Wm.  Speer  has 
well  portrayed  in  his  book,  "  God's  Rule  for  Christian  Giving.  "  "  The  roads 
which  Rome  built  were  the  greatest  and  most  useful  monuments  of  her  vast 
power.  They  were  constructed  with  far  greater  outlays  of  labor  and  expense 
than  anything  of  the  kind  in  modern  ages.  The  prophesies  of  Isaiah 
were  literally  fulfilled  as  to  the  leveling  of  mountains  and  valleys,  the  straight- 
ening of  crooked  ways,  and  the  making  of  the  rough  ways  smooth.  (Isai.  40, 
3-5,  and  St.  Luke  3,  4-7).  Some  of  those  magnificent  highways  are  among 
the  wonders  of  the  world  until  this  day,  and  have  gone  for  centuries  together 
without  repair.  Their  vast  excavations  and  embankments,  their  paved 
bridges,  and  the  care  with  which  they  were  built  in  four  successive  courses  of 
stones  of  various  sizes  solidified  with  lime,  and  the  surface  covered  over  with 
blocks  of  smooth  granite  or  other  hard  rock,  fitted  and  jointed  like  our 
masonry  of  walls,  have  been  unparalleled  in  any  subsequent  age.  They  were 
felt  to  be  the  best  exhibition  and  most  needful  agency  of  Roman  superiority. 
And  so  they  were  as  speedily  as  possible  constructed  over  conquered  countries. 
In  the  Forum  at  Rome  stood  a  gilded  column  inscribed  with  the  names  of  the 
principal  roads  and  the  distances  to  the  chief  cites  upon  the  course  of  each  of 
them.  They  were  marked  by  milestones,  frequent  stone  horse-blocks  and 
other  conveniences,  and  buildings  for  military  and  postal  necessitiefe.  There 
were  taverns  near  them  for  travellers.  They  stretched  from  one  extreme  of 
the  empire  to  the  other.  Their  remains  are  seen  to-day  from  Scotland,  where 
the  Gospel  was  early,  planted  in  the  West,  to  Palestine,  whence  its  preachers 
started  forth  with  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  the  East. " 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  15 

Dr.  Speer  goes  on  to  speak  of  the  railways,  steamers  and  telegraphs 
which  now  may  prepare  the  way  for  Christianity,  as  St.  John  the  Baptist  did 
for  the  Saviour  of  mankind.  He  says  that  while  the  Greeks  had  given  lan- 
guage and  civilization  to  the  centres  of  the  world's  power,  "the  Romans  were 
law  makers  and  road  builders." 

The  steam  engine  in  this  land  has  hurt  the  turnpike  and  the  mile-stones 
with  their  poetic  thought  of  marks  in  life's  journey  are  not  seen  by  the  rush- 
ing railway  traveller.  The  horse-block  seldom  meets  the  eye  unless  in  a 
country  churchyard,  which  used  to  see  many  a  male  and  female  rider  enter 
its  borders  on  a  Sunday.  The  York  Road,  though,  is  yet  a  civilizer  and 
missionary,  as  its  frequent  churches  and  schools  indicate.  The  carrying  of 
the  mail  by  train  relieves  the  postal  duty  of  the  highway,  but  the  residents  of 
the  Lancaster  turnpike  have  taught  the  suburban  population  that  it  pays  in 
mental  comfort,  and  in  saving  of  horse  and  carriage  to  have  a  good  road. 

In  Bishop  Heber's  "  India  "  is  an  account  of  a  walk  on  the  banks  of  the 
Hooghly  "  of  pounded  brick,  covered  wdth  sand,  the  usual  materials  of  the 
roads  and  streets  in  and  near  Calcutta,  with  a  row  of  trees  on  each  side."  The 
broken  brick  in  this  country  does'  not  make  a  good  road  for  our  heavy 
wagons  and  carriages. 

Bishop  Heber  says  elsewhere,  "  the  roadside  is,  in  India,  always  the  part 
last  cultivated,  the  natives  being  exposed  to  many  injuries  and  oppressions 
from  sepoys  and  travellers." 

The  dwellers  on  the  York  Road  have  not  this  sad  experience,  but  may 
run  an  orchard  or  wheat  field  along  the  thoroughfare. 

In  Rev.  Dr.  Brewer's  "  Reader's  Hand  Book  "  is  a  note  about  English  law 
as  to  driving  to  the  left,  while  here  we  turn  to  the  right,  which  I  have 
noticed  does  not  give  so  good  a  view  of  the  wheel  which  the  driver  may 
strike.     An  English  epigram  is  quoted. 

"  The  law  of  the  land  is  a  paradox  quite, 

In  riding  or  driving  along ; 
If  you  go  to  the  left,  you  are  sure  to  go  right; 

If  you  go  to  the  right,  you  go  wrong." 

In  Canada  they  turn  to  the  left  in  passing. 

John  Loudon  Macadam  deserves  mention  as  an  improver  of  English 
roads.  He  gives  name  to  macadamizing.  He  lived  from  1756  to  1836.  He 
was  called  King  of  Roads  by  punning  on  the  island  of  Rhodes. 

In  a  new  country  the  cattle  path  may  first  mark  a  road  as  the  animals 
go  to  the  water  to  drink,  then  men  use  it,  and  the  bridle-path  follows,  and 
when  settlements  and  villages  arise,  highways  come.  A  road  may  hand 
down  a  history,  as  the  Welsh  Hoad  through  Bustleton  to  Holmesburgh  marks 
a  time  when  Welsh  lived  at  North  Wales  and  Gwynedd. 

A  winding  road  is  always  beautiful  as  it  gives  the  mind  hope  of  a  new 
scene  at  each  turn.  A  wood-road  on  a  summer's  day  specially  invites  the 
feet  of  the  pedestrian  to  find  new  beauties  in  the  grove,  and  to  see  more  of  the 


16  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

handiwork  of  God  in  his  creation  in  following  its  inviting  curves,  while  insect 
and  bird  life  make  the  air  vocal. 

General  Davis  has  a  chapter  on  Roads  in  his  excellent  History  of  Bucks 
County.  Penn  allowed,  as  this  book  records,  six  acres  in  every  hundred  for 
roads  in  the  original  survey  (p.  739). 

In  travelling  over  old  roads  it  is  observable  that  they  ran  over  hills  some- 
times apparently  to  avoid  mud.  There  were  Indian  trails  through  Pennsyl- 
vania before  rough  roads  were  made.  The  National  turnpike  from  Cumber- 
land to  Columbus  and  other  points  was  built  by  the  Government  before  the 
time  of  railways.  That  road  is  partly  on  the  line  of  an  Indian  path.  It  is  a 
well  kept  thoroughfare  to-day.  Sir  Thomas  More's  fancied  description  of  Utopia 
represents  many  of  the  Utopians  from  religious  and  benevolent  motives 
and  hoping  reward  after  death,  as  visiting  the  sick,  mending  highways,  clean- 
ing ditches,  and  repairing  bridges,  &c. 

Carter  Harrison  described  in  the  Chicago  Mail  a  "  great  trunk  road  which 
ran  parallel  to  the  railway  from  Calcutta  to  Peshawer  in  India.  He  thought 
it  the  grandest  road  in  the  world — 1600  miles  long,  beautifull}^  macadamized, 
everywhere  smooth  enough  for  a  bicycle  and  generally  having  a  fine  row  of 
trees  on  either  side.  In  the  lower  counties  these  trees  are  beautiful  evergreen 
oaks,  or  some  other  of  that  character ;  up  here  the  bulbul  or  gumasalic  tree, 
with  its  delicate  mimosa  leaf.  We  frequently  see  long  lines  of  camels  slowly 
winding  their  way,  and  large  caravans  of  asses  and  cows. " 

The  droves  of  horses  that  sometimes  pass  over  the  York  Road  are  the 
nearest  approach  to  the  camels  that  can  be  shown  in  this  country. 

In  Henry  Drummond's  Tropical  Africa  it  is  said  that  there  is  an  abund- 
ance of  foot-paths  in  that  land,  and  they  are  only  a  foot  in  breadth,  between 
villages  and  tribes  "  marvellously  direct" ,  except  that  they  will  pass  around 
a  stone,  which  the  native  will  not  remove  ;  or  a  fallen  tree  may  cause  a  diver- 
gence ;  if  the  white  ant  eats  the  tree,  the  detour  remains  ;  smaller  detours  for 
stumps  and  trees  of  primeval  forests  occur.  Forty-six  miles  of  the  Stevenson 
Road  between  lakes  Nyassa  and  Tanganyika  were  constructed  by  native  Afri- 
cans as  well  as  could  be  done  by  English  navvies.  The  difficult  cuttings  and 
gradients  were  made  so  that  they  would  not  have  disgraced  a  railway  con- 
tractor in  England.  The  author  claims  that  this  shows  that  the  African  can 
do  good  work. 

Norway  has  excellent  roads.  Conn  para tively  speaking,  no  country  has 
so  many  and  such  good  highways.  This  refers  to  the  main  roads  ;  those  to 
farmsteads  on  hillsides  are  inferior,  and  the  mountain  roads  to  a  seder,  (country 
cottage)  are  bad,  often  a  narrow  path  crossing  "  marshy  moors  or  endless  stony 
mountain  wastes  ".  The  horses  are  not  large  in  these  districts,  but  they  are 
nimble,  sure-footed  and  strong.  "  Norway  and  Its  People  ".  (Harper's  Maga- 
zine, Feb.  A.  D.  1889,  by  Bjornstjerne  Bjornson.) 

In  ancient  times  in  England  the  making  of  roads  was  difficult  when 
money  was  scarce  and  engineering  skill  was  lacking,  as  the  following  extract 
shows : 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  17 

"  Although  by  an  Act  passed  in  Mary's  reign  each  parish  was  bound  to 
keep  in  order  by  forced  labor  its  main  roads,  bridle-paths,  and  foot-paths,  and 
to  appoint  two  surveyors  to  superintend  the  work,  little  or  nothing  was  done ; 
and  the  early  records  are  full  of  indictments  of  parishes,  especially  the  parishes 
of  Lambeth  and  St.  George's,  Southwark,  for  neglect  of  highway  duties.  The 
roads  w^ere,  for  the  most  part,  nothing  more  than  tracks  worn  into  deep  ruts, 
which  in  rainy  weather  became  quagmires,  and  in  parts  flooded  and  impass- 
able ;  stage-waggons  toiled  laboriously  along  a  few  of  the  highways  at  the  rate 
of  from  ten  to  fifteen  miles  a  day  ;  stage-coaches  had  just  begun  to  ply  on  the 
road  between  London  and  Dover,  but  they  were  springless,  and  their  pace  did 
not  exceed  on  the  average  four  miles  an  hour;  indeed,  so  late  as  the  year 
1749,  a  stage-coach  journey  from  London  to  Guildford  occupied  an  entire  day. 
Journeying,  therefore,  especially  on  cross-roads,  was  usually  done  on  horse- 
back. Judges  rode  to  assizes  in  jack-boots,  followed  by  the  bar,  some  mounted, 
some  on  foot.  John  Evelyn  spent  hours  in  the  saddle ;  and  when  Cowley 
moved  from  Barnes  to  his  new  home  at  Chertsey  in  1665,  he  had  to  spend  the 
night  en  route  at  Hampton".  "Two  Centuries  of  Magistrates'  Work  in 
Survey".  (By  Thomas  Henry  Thornton,  Fortnightly  Review,  May,  A.  D.  1889, 
p,  695.)  There  is  a  reference  to  Smiles's  Lives  of  the  Engineers  for  a  further 
account  of  bad  roads. 

The  word  road  is  from  the  Anglo  Saxon  ''ridan"  to  ride,  and  came  to  mean 
that  on  which  one  rides  on  horseback.  "  Way "  is  from  a  verb  meaning  to 
move,  and  so  becomes  that  on  which  one  moves,  as  Christ  styles  Himself  "  the 
Way  ".     Shakespeare  uses  the  expression,  "  To  find  the  way  to  heaven  ". 

Civilization  makes  and  improves  highways.  The  Indian  trail  gives  place 
to  the  bridle-path,  and  the  rude  cart  road,  and  finally  the  turnpike  comes. 
The  canal  disputes  its  sway,  and  in  the  rejoicing  at  the  opening  of  the  Erie 
Canal  in  New  York  under  Governor  De  Witt  Clinton,  before  telegraphs  were 
known,  cannons  were  fired  at  regular  distances  along  the  line  to  announce  the 
grand  event.  Now  the  railway  in  its  rapid  w^hirl  laughs  at  turnpike  and 
canal  alike. 

The  Roman  Empire  is  said  to  have  learned  road-making  from  the  Car- 
thagenians,  and  very  straight  roads  the  Romans  made  for  their  beasts  of  bur- 
den. As  a  Russian  Czar  commanded  a  new  Rail  Road  to  be  built  by  a  line 
as  direct  as  a  ruler  laid  on  a  map,  so  did  Roman  power  walk  hi  unbending 
steps  through  a  conquered  province,  for  her  roads  were  military  ones,  and 
resounded  to  the  tread  of  armed  men.  They  had  raised  side-paths  with  stone 
horse-blocks. 

In  after  days  in  England,  compulsory  labor  built  roads,  though  still  later 
a  tax  was  laid  for  that  purpose. 

The  English  roads  ran  over  hills,  avoiding  mud  and  bogs,  as  did   some 
American  roads.     However,  they  w^ere  sometimes  almost  impassable  in  winter. 
It  is  well  to  crown  roads,  or  raise  them  in  the  middle-  to  keep  them  above  the 
ground  at  the  side. 
2 


18  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

The  Appian  Way  in  Italy  was  the  queen  of  the  roads.  It  was  con- 
structed before  the  days  of  Christ.  "  The  Three  Taverns "  and  "  Appii 
Forum  ",  where  Christian  brethren  met  St.  Paul  and  "  he  thanked  God  and 
took  courage  ",  mentioned  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  (28, 15),  were  on  it.  The 
road  had  a  good  foundation,  while  the  superstructure  consisted  of  heavy  hexago- 
nal stone  blocks,  mostly  of  basaltic  lava,  joined  together  as  if  one  mass.  The 
cost  was  vast.  Rocks  were  cut,  valleys  filled,  ravines  bridged,  and  swamps 
banked  up,  so  that  the  Western  American  sheriff's  report,  "  In  swampibus  non 
comeatibus  ",  could  not  hold  good.  Another  Western  effusion  shows  what  a 
wild  new  road  may  be : 

"I  say  it's  not  passable, 
Not  even  jackassable ; 
And  those  who  travel  it 
Should  turn  out  and  gravel  it. " 

Watling  Street  was  so  called  from  the  latin  "  strata  "  (paved, )  "  via  "  (way) 
being  understood.  It  ran  from  Dover  through  England,  passing  through 
London,  and  is  yet  a  highway  in  some  places.  The  Street  Road  in  Mont- 
gomery County,  Penna.,  and  the  one  in  Maryland  may  come  from  this  name. 
Susquehanna  Street  which  Penn's  surveyor,  Thomas  Holme,  ran  from  Torres- 
dale  on  the  Delaware  to  the  Susquehanna,  and  by  which  he  lies  buried,  near 
Bustleton,  was  meant  to  be  like  an  English  street  or  road  through  a  kingdom. 
A  part  of  it  is  now  open. 

Fuller  saw  an  old  lady  drawn  to  church  in  her  coach  by  six  oxen,  which 
indicates  that  in  his  times  in  England  roads  were  imperfect.  Smiles's  Lives 
of  Engineers  gives  the  facts  which  I  have  here  compiled  with  others  which 
will  be  added. 

Grain  and  wool  were  sent  to  market  on  horses'  backs ;  manure  was  carried 
to  the  field  in  panniers,  and  fuel  from  moss  and  forest  in  the  same  way.  Coal 
for  blacksmith's  forges  was  largely  carried  by  horses.  Food  to  supply  London 
was  principally  brought  in  panniers,  that  is,  wicker  baskets  swung  over  the 
backs  of  horses.  Lines  of  pack  horses  went  along  roads  little  better  than 
bridle-paths.  The  foremost  horse  had  a  bell  or  collar  of  bells,  and  was  called 
the  "  bell-horse  ".  The  bells  guided  the  following  horses,  and  gave  notice  to 
any  advancing  from  the  opposite  direction,  as  in  some  places  the  paths  were 
too  narrow  for  two  laden  horses  to  pass.  When  stages  came  in  use  they  were 
slow.  A  man  with  a  wooden  leg  is  said  to  have  declined  a  ride  in  a  slow  stage- 
coach, saying  he  could  not  wait,  but  was  in  a  hurry,  and  so  walked  on  ahead. 

Old  London  Bridge  originally  had  no  toll  arrangements  for  carriages,  as 
only  horses,  &c.  were  expected  to  pass  over  it ;  carriages  are  more  modern. 

One  of  the  most  wonderful  road-makers  who  improved  England's  high- 
ways by  contract  was  John  Metcalf,  who,  although  he  was  blind,  could  tell  by 
feeling  on  the  ground  with  his  staff  where  anything  was  wrongly  done. 

Rupp's  History  of  Cumberland  County,  Penna.,  quoted  in  James  M. 
Swank's  "  Iron  in  All  Ages  ",  notices  the  condition  of  travel  sixty  or  seventy 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  19 

years  ago  in  Pennsylvania.  Five  hundred  pack-horses  were  at  one  time  in 
Carlisle,  going  to  Shippensburg  and  further  west,  laden  with  merchandise, 
salt,  iron,  &c.  The  iron  was  crooked  around  the  bodies  of  the  horses,  and  the 
animals  also  carried  barrels  or  kegs.  The  horses  were  generally  led  in  com- 
panies of  twelve  or  fifteen,  in  single  file,  a  man  preceding  and  another  follow- 
ing the  train  to  watch  the  condition  of  the  packs,  which  sometimes  struck  the 
ground  on  the  hills,  or  where  the  paths  were  washed  out,  and  were  displaced. 
The  horses  generally  had  bells  which  did  not  ring  during  the  day,  but  were 
loosened  at  night  when  the  horses  were  freed  to  browse.  When  wagons 
were  introduced  the  carriers  thought  their  rights  invaded. 

Rev.  Dr.  H.  C.  McCook,  in  his  "  Gospel  in  Nature  ",  (pp.  293,  294,)  notes  a 
view  of  civilization  which  he  once  enjoyed  above  Huntingdon,  Pa.  The 
Indian  trail,  and  bridle-path  of  Western  pioneers,  and  the  stage  road  which 
bore  the  weight  of  Conestoga  wagons  from  Pittsburg  to  Philadelphia  and  the 
newer  canal  which  carried  freight  from  Philadelphia  to  the  Alleghanies,  and 
the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  with  its  fast  trains  were  all  in  sight  from  one  point. 
Such  is  the  marvelous  story  of  American  progress. 

Still  the  book  published  by  the  Press  of  the  University  of  Penna.  in  A. 
D.  1891,  entitled  "  A  Move  for  Better  Roads  ",  under  the  supervision  of  Prof. 
Lewis  M.  Haupt,  with  an  introduction  by  William  H.  Rhawn,  shows  in  its 
scientific  essays  that  better  roads  may  yet  be  expected.  The  improvement  in 
Old  York  Road  from  its  earlier  days  indicates  the  good  result  of  better 
highways. 

In  "  Penn's  Treaty  "  by  Chas.  S.  Keyser,  Esq.,  the  Council  at  Philadel- 
phia on  Aug.  31st,  1732,  under  Thos.  Penn,  Proprietary,  son  of  Wm.  Penn,  in 
renewing  a  treaty  with  the  Six  Nations,  (Indians),  under  the  6th  head,  stipu- 
lates as  follows :  "And  we  now  desire  there  may  be  an  open  Road  between 
Philadelphia  and  the  towns  of  the  Six  Nations  which  we  will,  on  our  parts, 
clear  from  every  grub,  stump  and  log,  that  it  may  be  straight,  smooth  and 
free  for  us  and  you." 

Penn,  as  Keyser  notes,  proposed  "  to  locate  a  second  Philadelphia  on  the 
Susquehanna,"  (p.  58,)  note. 

Susquehanna  Avenue  or  Street,  which  Thomas  Holme,  the  Surveyor 
General,  ran  by  line,  at  least  in  part,  from  the  Delaware  River  at  Torres- 
dale  to  the  Susquehanna,  passed  by  where  Holme's  grave  now  lies  in  the  old 
graveyard  on  the  Bustleton  railway,  near  Ash  ton  Station.  Parts  of  the 
Avenue  are  yet  open.  It  is  said  that  it  was  intended  to  locate  Philadelphia  at 
Torresdale,  but  the  rocks  styled  "  hen  and  chickens  "  were  thought  too  much 
of  an  impediment  for  shipping,  and  perhaps  for  other  reasons  also,  the 
project  was  abandoned. 

"  The  first  turnpike  rofffl  in  the  United  States  was  made  in  Pennsyl- 
vania (Encyclopaedia  Americana,  under  "  Pennsylvania  ")." 

The  Old  York  Road  from  Cheltenham  to  Philadelphia  was  ordered  in 
August,  1693.  Old  York  Road,  Susquehanna  Street  and  County  Line  Road 
to  Mooreland,  were  laid  out  in  1697. 


20  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

In  the  Hatboro  Public  Spirit,  that  faithful  recounter  of  local  history, 
my  friend,  Wm.  J.  Buck,  gave  a  number  of  sketches,  running  from  Dec.  11th, 
A.  D.,  1880  to  June  24th,  1882.  They  may  be  found  in  a  Scrap  Book  at  the 
Ridgway  Library,  entitled  the  "  Montgomery  County  Local  Historian "  No. 
10393,  S.  The  author  has  kindly  given  me  his  permission  to  abridge  any- 
thing needful  in  these  sketches.     I  shall  follow  his  leading. 

The  York  Road  has  historic  associations  worthy  of  notice.  The  laying 
out  of  the  road  showed  the  advancement  of  settlement  northward  to  the  limit 
of  the  province.  A  petition  for  the  road  was  made  to  Governor  Charles 
Gookin  and  his  Council.  The  following  were  appointed  to  lay  it  out :  ''  Peter 
Chamberlain,  George  Shoemaker,  Daniel  Thomas,  Isaac  Knight,  Henry 
Bennet,  John  Scarborough,  Thomas  Watson,  Stephen  Jenkins,  Nathaniel 
Bye,  Tobias  Leech,  Matthew  Hughes  and  Griffith  Miles." 

Of  those  who  laid  out  the  road  Stephen  Jenkins  had  a  large  farm  near 
Jenkintown,  at  Kennedy's  Tannery.  His  brother  William  lived  on  Samuel 
Noble's  farm,  opposite.  This  family  gave  name  to  Jenkintown.  George 
Shoemaker  lived  at  Shoemakertown,  on  a  farm  bought  of  Richard  Wall, 
where  he  built  a  grist-mill.  Daniel  Thomas  resided  at  Hatboro,  owned  a 
grist-mill,  and  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  public  library.  Thos.  Watson 
had  a  large  farm  in  Buckingham.  Judge  Watson  is  his  descendant.  He 
was  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  an  Assemblyman.  Matthew  Hughes  lived  in 
Buckingham,  and  was  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  and  Assemblyman.  Tobias 
Leech  was  a  man  of  note  in  Cheltenham,  holding  several  offices.  John  Scar- 
borough lived  in  Solebury  township,  near  the  Great  Spring.  Nathaniel  Bye 
lived  **  near  the  line  of  Buckingham  and  Solebury." 

It  was  a  laborious  task  to  build.  33  miles  of  road  from  the  Delaware  river 
to  Philadelphia  in  a  country  thick  with  timber  and  thin  of  population.  No 
dynamite  extracted  the  stumps,  and  brave  men  toiled  hard  to  destroy  nature's 
luxuriant  growths  that  their  wagons  might  pass  where  Indians  and  deer  had 
made  their  home. 

The  road  stimulated  settlement,  and  brought  churches,  schools  and 
bridges.  There  was  a  bridge  at  Willow  Grove  in  1722;  and  the  strong  Hat- 
boro bridge  over  the  Pennypack  in  1789. 

The  Log  College,  and  the  Abington  Friends'  Meeting,  and  the  Abington 
and  Neshaminy  Presbyterian  churches  were  of  old  date. 

Eight  years  before  the  Revolution,  John  Paul's  tavern,  at  Willow  Grove, 
had  stabling  for  nearly  100  horses. 

Washington  and  his  army  thrice  passed  this  road.  When  he  was  in 
Northern  New  Jersey  he  understood,  on  July  25th,  1777,  that  the  fleet  of  the 
British  would  sail  from  New  York,  and  thought  that  they  might  go  to  Phila- 
delphia. He  went  to  Coryell's  Ferry,  now  Lambertville,  with  Greene,  and 
waited  for  news.  On  July  31st,  the  Americans  crossed  the  Delaware,  and 
took  the  York  Road  for  the  vicinity  of  Germantown.  The  fleet  did  not  come, 
and  in  August  the  army  was  taken  back  to  Coryell's  Ferry.     When  three 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  21 

miles  east  of  the  Crooked  Billet  tavern,  now  Hatboro,  an  express  from  the 
President  of  Congress  as  to  the  fleet  having  been  seen  off  Sinepuxent  led  him 
to  turn  back.  The  troops  camped  near  what  is  now  Hartsville  until  Aug. 
23d,  when  they  started  back  for  Germantown,  as  "Washington  had  heard  that 
the  fleet  was  going  up  Chesapeake  Bay. 

Hartsville  was  then  called  Cross  Roads,  Washington's  Headquarters  were 
in  a  stone  house,  "belonging  to  the  Bothwell  estate."  He  remained  there 
thirteen  days.  Generals  Greene,  Sterling,  Woodford,  Muhlenberg,  Lafayette 
and  other  officers  were  here,  as  well  as  Pulaski,  De  Fleury  and  Hamilton. 

In  1778,  General  Lacey  spent  about  a  month  in  the  Spring  at  Hatboro  to 
stop  marauding  parties  of  the  British,  and  to  check  the  suppl_y  of  country  pro- 
visions to  the  enemy.  The  British  defeated  his  party  in  an  attack  and  went 
back  to  the  city  over  the  York  Road. 

The  Germantown  turnpike,  begun  in  1801,  was  finished  in  1804.  The 
Cheltenham  and  Willow  Grove  turnpike  was  begun  at  Rising  Sun  in  1803, 
and  reached  Willow  Grove,  formerly  called  Red  Lion,  the  next  year.  The 
cost  averaged  $8000  per  mile. 

In  1850  an  extension  was  made  from  Hatboro  to  the  Street  Road,  4| 
miles.  A  few  years  afterward  there  was  a  continuation  to  Buckingham,  and 
at  last  to  New  Hope. 

The  mile-stones,  before  the  construction  of  the  turnpike,  were  interesting 
marks  of  progress,  as  birthdays  are  in  life's  journey.  The  15th  mile-stone 
from  the  city  seems  to  have  been  especially  dear  to  Mr.  Buck.  It  was  near 
the  base  of  Sampson's  Hill.  There  was  one  near  the  foot  of  Kerr's  Hill, 
which  he  well  thinks  may  have  been  gazed  on  by  Washington  and  his  gen- 
erals. Philadelphia,  held  by  British  soldiers,  was  not  as  easy  of  access  then 
as  to-day.  The  enemy  made  it  in  reality  far  more  distant  than  the  assertion 
of  the  honest  mile-stone.     Let  us  thank  God  that  those  hard  days  are  over. 

Still  locomotion  was  not  easy  in  spring  mud  and  winter  snow.  Lewis 
Evan's  map  of  the  Middle  Colonies,  of  the  date  of  1749,  and  Nicholas  Scull's 
map  of  1759,  and  William  Scull's  map  of  1770,  the  article  under  review  states 
gave  the  line  of  the  York  Road  through  Pennsylvania  with  "  the  principal 
settlements  and  villages  along  the  route." 

Mr.  Buck  pleasantly  notes  the  changes  on  the  road  since  1711  wheii  it 
was  opened;  the  removing  "of  rocks,  trees  and  stumps;  the  building  of 
bridges,  and  the  covering  of  its  surface  with  stone.  The  changes  too  in  travel 
at  first  on  horse-back,  then  the  cart,  the  two  and  four  horse  teams,  the  gig,  the 
stage-coach,  the  elliptic-spring  market  wagon  and  carriage ;  beside  it  also  the 
long  extended  telegraph  line,  erected  only  since  1850.  The  surprising 
changes,  likewise,  in  the  people — groups  of  Indians,  negro  slaves,  and 
redemptioners,  sold  for  their  passages,  and  brought  out  from  the  city  by  their 
masters,  all  gone !  the  like  to  pass  over  it  no  more." 

In  closing  his  article  on  the  Old  York  Road,  Mr.  Buck  reminds  us  of  the 
period  when  it  was  necessary  to  place  rails  on  end  in  the  mud  as  warnings, 


22  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

and  when  in  snow-drifting  times  the  travellers  would  be  kept  for  days  at  a 
hospitable  wayside  inn  before  they  could  go  on  to  Philadelphia,  and  of  the 
pleasures  that  enlivened  the  time  before  "  a  blazing  hickory  fire."  Whittier's 
poem  "  Snow  Bound  "  tells  of  such  experiences : 

"Shut  in  from  all  the  world  without, 
We  sat  the  clean-winged  hearth  about, 
Content  to  let  the  north  wind  roar 
In  baffled  rage  at  pane  and  door, 
While  the  red  logs  before  us  beat 
The  frost-line  back  with  tropic  heat ; 
And  ever  M'hen  a  louder  blast 
Shook  beam  and  rafter  as  it  passed, 
The  merrier  up  its  roaring  draught 
The  great  throat  of  the  chimney  laughed." 

W.  J.  Buck  quotes  the  following  from  Asher  Miner's  newspaper,  The  Cor- 
respondent, published  in  Doylestown,  June  4th,  A.  D.  1805:  "It  is  presumed 
a  beneficial  improvement  might  be  made  on  the  Old  York  Road,  particularly 
at  Sampson's  Hill,  Kerr's  Hill,  at  Neshaminy,  and  Watson's  Hill,  by  reducing 
the  ascent  to  the  common  standard  of  turnpike  roads.  The  continued 
increase  of  travel  from  New  Jersey,  and  the  running  of  stages  from  Philadel- 
phia to  Easton  require  such  an  improvement  to  be  made." 

Mr.  Buck  adds  :  "  Little  did  the  writer,  who  evidently  resided  in  Buck- 
ingham, then  think  that  half  a  century  would  take  place  before  this  would  be 
accomplished  fully.  In  this  connection  I  may  mention  that  the  first  stage 
line  to  Easton  was  commenced  in  1796,  by  John  Nicholas,  at  first  making  but 
one  trip  a  week.  We  see  by  this  that  several  stage  lines  were  passing  over 
the  road  more  than  three-fourths  of  a  century  ago,  all  denoting  con- 
siderable travel  in  the  absence  of  railroads  and  steam-boats,  then  exclu- 
sively confined  to  the  highways.  We  next  come  to  extension  of  turnpikes 
from  the  city  over  the  bed  of  the  old  road.  The  first  was  up  through  Ger- 
mantown,  in  1801,  but  not  fully  completed  until  1804.  The  Cheltenham  and 
Willow  Grove  Turnpike  was  commenced  at  Rising  Sun  in  1803,  and  finished 
to  the  latter  village  the  following  year.  We  now  find  a  long  period  elapse 
before  its  further  extension,  which  did  not  take  place  till  between  1850  and 
1860,  through  Hatboro,  and  ending  at  the  Street  'Road,  a  distance  of  only  4| 
miles.  However,  in  a  few  years  thereafter  it  was  continued  on  to  Bucking- 
ham, and  finally  to  New  Hope." 

It  is  thirty-three  miles  from  the  Delaware  river  to  Philadelphia  by  the 
Old  York  Road,  which  connects  the  meandering  stream  which  left  Philadel- 
phia, that  it  might  wander  according  to  its  own  sweet  will  until  it  looks  upon 
its -source  in  New  York  State  after  having  enjoyed  a  view  of  the  shores  of 
Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey. 

In  1802  the  Governor  was  petitioned  to  authorize  a  turnpike  to  be  con- 
structed on  the  Old  York  Road.  He  appointed  the  following  Commissioners, 
"  who  were "  residents  in  1803 :     Robert  Loller,  Joshua  Tyson,  John  Shoe- 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  23 

maker,  Jr.,  John  Barclay,  John  Inskeep,  John  Hart  (druggist),  George  Rex, 
Dr.  Daniel  de  Benneville  and  Richard  T.  Leech.  The  road  was  first  turn- 
piked  from  Rising  Sun  to  the  Red  Lion  (Willow  Grove),  and  continued 
afterward  to  the  Delaware  river. 

The  country  section  of  the  York  Road,  of  which  we  propose  to  treat, 
begins  at  the  Rising  Sun  Hotel  on  Germantown  Road. 

ROADS  AND  STAGING. 

In  Edwin  S.  Stuart's  edition  of  Watson's  Annals  with  Willis  P.  Hazard's 
additions  (vol.  1,  p.  257),  we  have  the  following  description  of  highways: 
"  The  badness  of  the  roads  near  the  city  as  they  were  in  former  days,  before 
turnpikes,  and  more  improvements  were  made  upon  them,  is  now  very  little 
considered  or  known,"  I  give  some  facts : 

"  Jonathan  Tyson,  a  farmer  68  years  of  age,  of  Abington,  saw,  at  16  years 
of  age,  much  of  the  difficulty  of  going  to  the  city :  a  dreadful  mire  of  blackish 
mud  rested  near  the  present  Rising  Sun  village,  where  is  now  the  long  row  of 
frame  buildings.  He  saw  there  the  team  of  Mr.  Nickum,  of  Chestnut  Hill, 
stalled ;  and  in  endeavoring  to  draw  out  the  forehorse  with  an  iron  chain  to 
his  head,  it  slipped  and  tore  off  the  lower  jaw,  and  the  horse  died  on  the  spot. 
There  was  a  very  bad  piece  of  road  nearer  to  the  city,  along  the  front  of  the 
Norris  estate.  It  was  frequent  to  see  there,  horses  struggling  in  mire  to  their 
knees.  Mr.  Tyson  has  seen  thirteen  lime  wagons  at  a  time  stopped  on  the 
York  Road,  near  Logan's  Hill,  to  give  one  another  assistance  to  draw  through 
the  mire;  and  the  drivers  could  be  seen  with  their  trousers  rolled  up,  and 
joining  team  to  team  to  draw  out;  at  other  times  they  set  up  a  stake  in 
the  middle  of  the  road  to  warn  off  wagons  from  the  quicksand  pits.  Some- 
times they  took  down  fences  and  made  new  roads  through  the  fields.  Now 
good  turnpikes  efface  all  such  difficulties  upon  the  main  roads.  When  they 
first  came  into  use  all  farmers  commended  them,  and  used  them ;  but,  in  time, 
they  forgot  their  benefactors,  and  have  tried  to  shun  them — leaving  the  stock- 
holders to  get  but  half  an  income.  Had  no  turnpikes  been  made,  roads  would 
have  become  as  claypits,  by  the  continual  increase  of  population  and  use." 

When  the  annalist  wrote  the  above  he  did  not  dream  of  the  day  when 
the  pikes  would  be  made  free.     The  italics  are  his  own. 

That  laborious  historian,  Daniel  K.  Cassel,  of  Nicetown,  in  his  History  of 
the  Mennonites  (p.  432),  quotes  AVatson  as  to  the  habits  of  the  early  settlers  of 
Germantown  thus :  "  They  used  no  wagons  in  going  to  market,  but  the  woman 
went  and  rode  on  a  horse  with  two  panniers  slung  on  each  side  of  her.  The 
women,  too,  carried  baskets  on  their  heads,  and  the  men  wheeled  wheel- 
barrows— being  six  miles  to  market.  Then  the  people,  especially  man  and 
wife,  rode  to  church,  funerals  and  visits,  both  on  one  horse ;  the  woman  sat  on 
a  pillion  behind  the  man."  Watson  also  says  that  in  going  to  be  married  the 
bride  rode  to  meeting  behind  her  father,  or  next  friend,  seated  on  a  pillion ; 


24  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

but  after  the  marriage  the  pillion  was  placed,  with  her,  behind  the  saddle  of 
her  husband. 

Another  writer,  quoted  by  Mr.  Cassel,  says,  "  Pastor  John  Minnich,  one  of 
the  old  Mennonite  preachers,  used  to  come  each  Sunday  from  Dolly  Lolly  Cor- 
ner, near  Shoemakertown,  on  horseback,  his  wife,  Nanny,  riding  on  behind." 

In  Hazard's  addition  to  Watson  (vol.  3,  p.  134)  is  this  description  of 
Public  Stages :  "  In  March,  1738,  a  stage  wagon  started  to  run  twice  a  week 
and  back  again  from  Trenton  to  New  Brunswick ;  it  had  benches  and  was 
covered  over;  fare  2s.  6d.  This  line  was  successful,  and  stimulated  others.  In 
1740  a  line  was  run  from  Bordentown  to  Amboy  once  a  week  on  Monday, 
and  thence  by  boat  to  New  York,  except  in  the  winter.  In  1750  a  line  of 
stages  started  from  the  Crooked  Billet  in  Philadelphia  every  Tuesday  to  Bor- 
dentown, thence  on  Wednesday  and  Thursday  to  Amboy,  thence  by  boat  to 
New  York.  These  latter  two  were  rival  lines  to  the  New  Brunswick  route. 
The  oldest  stage  road  to  New  York  was  the  road  through  Frankford  and 
along  the  bank  of  the  river  to  Bristol,  and  usually  to  Coryell's  Ferry  below 
Morrisville  where  the  Delaware  was  crossed ;  (this  is  an  error,  mixing  this 
route  with  that  on  the  York  Road)  thence  the  route  was  through  New  Jersey 
by  way  of  Trenton  and  Princeton,  what  was  afterward  called  Uhe  Old  York 
Road ',  or  New  Fourth  Street,  was  not  opened  until  after  the  Revolution.  It 
ran  into  the  old  road  in  the  upper  part  of  the  County.  Of  course  there  have 
been  innumerable  instances  of  persons  driving  from  New  York  to  Philadel- 
phia, and  vice  versa,  ever  since  the  foundation  of  Pennsylvania.  At  certain 
times  of  the  year,  when  the  Delaware  was  frozen,  there  were  regular  stage 
routes  through ;  but  in  summer  time  the  route  was  by  stage-boat  up  the  river 
to  Bordentown  and  Trenton,  across  New  Jersey  by  coach  to  New  Brunswick, 
and  thence  by  boat  to  New  York.  AVhen  steamboats  came  into  use — about 
the  year  1809 — the  transportation  was  by  steamboaD  from  Philadelphia  to 
Bordentown.  When  the  railroad  was  finished  between  Camden  and  Amboy, 
stage-coach  travel  between  Philadelphia  and  New  York  ceased,  except  for  a 
year  or  two  when  the  stage  lines  fought  against  the  railroads.  The  regular 
stage  coach  routes  between  Philadelphia  and  New  York  ceased  entirely 
about  1836." 

It  should  be  added  that  once  a  stage  line  ran  to  New  York  through 
Bustleton ;  Washington  Irving  speaks  of  using  it.  These  stage  days  were  hard 
for  lovers  who  wished  to  meet  often,  and  slow  in  reaching  the  sick  or  dying. 

In  Townsend  Ward's  "  Germantown  Road  and  Its  Associations "  (Pa. 
Mag.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  vol.  5,  Nos.  1  and  2)  we  note  the  following :  An  old 
map  calls  Rising  Sun  village  Sunville.  The  Americans  have  a  propensity  for 
villes.  Ward  mentions  fine  houses  on  Broad  Street  here,  and  names  Charles 
Brugiere's  country-seat  which  was  at  the  S.  W.  corner  of  the  Avenue  and 
Broad  Street.  The  Fox  Chase  Inn,  described  by  this  writer,  on  Germantown 
Road  opposite  Nicholas  Wain's  place  has  just  been  torn  town.  It  was  near 
the  Connecting  Railroad.     Ward  says  the  "  Old  Rising  Sun  is  picturesque 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  25 

» 

among  its  trees."  The  village  of  Rising  Sun  stretched  on  to  Nicetown. 
Between  these  places  about  1833  the  village  of  Jacksonville  stood  where  is  a 
Baptist  Church,  The  "  i  "  in  Nice  used  to  have  the  sound  of  "  e  ".  "  In  old 
times  Mr.  Logan  used  to  say  '  the  Widow  Nece's  house  was  burned  by  the 
British.'"     It  is  a  German  name,  and  was  spelled  Neus. 

Ward  states  that  in  1710  a  proposition  was  made  to  the  Council  for  a 
road  from  Bucks  County  to  Philadelphia  by  way  of  what  is  now  the  Old  York 
Road,  but  the  "  entering  into  the  city "  was  afterward  changed  for  Front 
Street.-  In  1771,  a  petition  prays  for  the  opening  of  a  public  road  leading 
"  from  the  upper  end  of  Fourth  Street  to  the  widow  Master's  land,  near  her 
mill-dam""  into  Germantown  Road.     This  made  another  outlet. 

THE  RISING  SUN  INN. 

"  The  Rising  Sun  was  a  badge  of  Edward  III,  and  forms  part  of  the  arms 
of  Ireland ;  but  the  Sun  Shining  was  a  cognizance  of  several  kings.  Various 
other  causes  may  have  led  to  the  adoption  of  that  luminary  as  a  sign."  (Jacob 
Larwood  and  John  Camden  Hotten's  History  of  Sign  Boards  p.  118). 

The  Golden  Sun  was  the  sign  of  Ulrich  Gering,  in  the  Rue  St.  Jacques, 
Paris,  printer  of  the  first  Bible  in  France  in  1475.  This  may  have  indicated 
the  light  to  be  diffused  by  printing. 

The  Sun  was  used  in  many  combinations  with  other  words. 

The  Rising  Sun  may  have  been  considered  a  favorable  omen  for  a  man 
beginning  business.  Such  signs  were  adopted  for  places  of  business,  as  well  as 
inns.     However,  a  noted  English  tavern  at  Islington  bore  the  name. 

"The  Rising  Sun  and  Seven  Stars  was  the  very  appropriate  sign  at 
which  was  printed  a  work  on  '  Astrological  Optics ; '  but  better  still  it  was 
printed  for  R.  Moon,  whose  shop  was  in  St.  Paul's  churchyard  "  (pp.  498,  499). 

Object  signs  were  needed  when  many  could  not  read,  and  houses  were  not 
numbered,  and  street  names  were  lacking  at  the  corners.     (See  Preface  p.  v.) 

The  building  bearing  the  name  Rising  Sun  which  was  recently  demol- 
ished by  Mr.  Cooper,  and  which  stood  in  a  triangular  plot  of  ground  at  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Germantown  and  York  Roads  was  styled  the  Middle  Rising  Sun, 
as  the  more  ancient  inn  was  just  above  it,  and  another  hotel  with  the  same 
name  stood  below,  on  Germantown  Road,  opposite  Rising  Sun  Park.  The 
site  of  the  Middle  Inn  is  now  fenced  in  and  brick,  stone,  and  timber  in 
piles  on  the  ground,  an  old  stable,  and  an  outbuilding  bearing  the  name 
of  George  W.  Kirk  with  the  name  of  the  hotel  are  the  sole  remains. 

In  Willis  P.  Hazard's  continuation  of  Watson's  Annals  of  Philadelphia 
we  find  that  other  hotels  bore  that  name  in  the  city,  and  when  landlords 
moved  in  Philadelphia  they  used  frequently  to  carry  their  signs  with  them  to 
their  new  post.  One  Rising  Sun  was  kept  by  Sarah  Stimble  in  Market  Street 
above  Front.  There  was  another  kept  by  Samuel  Titmus.  (Vol.  3,  pp.  346 
and  364.)     Our  Rising  Sun  is  marked  A.  Nice  (p.  348). 


26  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

• 

The  veritable  ancient  building — the  original  Rising  Sun,  as  far  as  the 

York  Road  is  concerned,  which  only  set  a  few  years  ago,  is  a  stone  house, 

having  some  bricks  mingled  with  the  stone  in  the  walls.     About  1846  the  old 

wall  was  roughcast.     There  is  a  hipped  roof,  and  dormer  windows  light  the 

attic  of  the  old  hostelry.     Modern  Venetian  blinds  have  been  placed  on  the 

second  story  windows  and  the  house  is  but  two  stories  high.     Even  the  first 

story  may  have  lacked  wooden  shutters  in  its  pristine  simplicity.     There  are 

old  piazzas  both  in  the  front  and  the  rear.     The  building  fronted  on   the 

York  Road,  though  the  rear  yard  extends  to  Germantown  Avenue,  and  now 

the  real  front  is  on  that  ancient  street.     Cooper  Hall,  erected  in  the  rear  of 

the  oldest  part  of  the  structure  breaks  the  view  to  Germantown  Road. 

The  hotel  stood  a  little  back  from  York  Road  giving  the  old  stage-driver 
a  chance  to  wheel  up  his  coach  in  style  after  the  sounding  horn  had 
announced  his  approach.  Now  the  Germantown  horse  cars  pass  the  house  and 
the  Reading  and  Pennsylvania  railways  are  near  it.  The  stages  from  Phila- 
delphia to  New  York,  and  from  Broad  Axe  above  Germantown  and  other 
country  points  stopped  at  this  famous  hotel,  and  many  a  cold  and  hungry 
traveller  in  weary  staging  days  left  here  refreshed  by  a  hearty  meal.  It  was 
not  taken  in  the  railway  fashion  in  snatching  and  running. 

In  after  times  an  addition  was  placed  at  the  Northern  part  of  the  inn — 
more  than  doubling  its  capacity.  A  chimney  rises  from  the  new  portion  in 
the  midst  of  the  roof,  while  there  are  two  in  the  lower  end  of  the  house. 

An  old  wooden  pump  still  does  its  work,  though  several  generations  of 
pumps  have  preceded  it.  Washington  is  supposed  to  have  refreshed  himself 
with  the  water  of  this  well  and  the  writer  followed  his  good  example  on  a 
summer  day  being  the  5th  of  July  while  the  colors  which  he  helped  to  win 
adorned  the  porch  of  the  building  on  account  of  the  recent  holiday. 

A  tree  in  front  of  the  piazza  lovingly  shades  the  house,  while  the  red 
flower  pots,  with  their  varied  plants  and  flowers  on  the  wire  frame  work  at 
the  foot  of  the  tree,  and  the  flowers  and  bushes  scattered  in  sweet  profusion, 
ornament  and  cheer  the  yard.  Other  plants  in  hanging-baskets  vivify  the 
piazza,  while  a  singing  bird  enlivens  the  summer  afternoon  and  some  Mexican 
dogs  add  their  welcome  to  the  stranger. 

A  two-story  little  stone  house  on  the  opposite  side  of  York  Road  was 
Washington's  office  while  he  tarried  at  this  inn.  A  piazza  has  been  added  in 
front.  This  building  is  just  above  Campbell's  Flour  Store.  Below  that  store 
at  the  lower  corner  of  York  Road  and  Germantown  Road  stands  John 
Keyser's  old  wooden  mansion.  His  son  Elkanah  occupies  it.  A  Keyser  once 
kept  the  Middle  Rising  Sun  for  several  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  John 
Osmund. 

The  host  at  the  Old  Rising  Sun  over  seventy  years  ago  was  Jacob  Bilger. 
It  was  then  the  cattle  market  of  Philadelphia.  Cattle  were  driven  here  from 
the  state  of  New  York  before  live  stock  passed  over  railway  tracks.     This  was 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  29 

quite  a  place  of  resort  for  drovers  and  farmers  for  procuring  fat  stock,  as  well 
as  neat  stock  which  the  farmers  could  fatten. 

After  Mr.  Bilger  we  note  as  hosts  Mr.  Parrot,  and  his  son-in-law,  William 
Bronson  and  John  Pursell,  and  James  Hammell  who  made  the  addition  and 
long  owned  the  property.  Jacob  Markey  was  an  excellent  host  for  several 
years  and  Samuel  Hough  and  others  succeeded  him.  After  Robert  Van  Sickel's 
death  James  E.  Cooper,  whose  father  gave  name  to  Cooperville  on  the  Con- 
necting Railroad,  bought  the  property  and  held  it  over  twenty  years.  It  now 
belongs  to  his  estate.  He  purchased  five  acres  of  land  with  the  Inn,  and 
built  forty-eight  houses  of  brick  in  rows  on  the  land.  He  also  bought  the 
Rising  Sun  Park,  as  well  as  other  property,  and  owned  four  farms  in  the 
neighborhood.  He  was  an  active  and  industrious  man  even  in  sickness  and 
did  much  to  build  up  this  section.     He  died  a  few  months  since. 

The  former  Inn  contains  a  brass  candlestick  which  Mrs.  Brauserman,  who 
lived  near  the  Chew  House,  in  Germantown  in  Revolutionary  days  flung  at 
an  English  soldier  who  tried  to  examine  a  chest  which  belonged  to  her  in  her 
own  house.  The  chest  contained  bullets  for  the  American  Army  which  she 
had  made  out  of  her  pewter  plate.  She  had  four  sons  in  the  army  and  would 
take  her  bullets  to  Naglee's  Hill  in  the  lower  part  of  Germantown  at  night, 
where  they  would  receive  them.  The  candlestick  is  dented  by  the  force  of 
the  blow  as  it  struck  the  wall  when  she  threw  it  at  the  intruder.  An  officer 
of  his  own  army  had  him  seized  before  he  could  accomplish  his  object.  She 
sat  upon  the  chest  to  keep  him  from  seeing  its  contents.  This  brave  lady  was 
an  ancestress  of  Mrs.  Clemmens  who  narrated  the  incident.  Mr.  Edward  B. 
Clemmens,  the  father-in-law  of  James  E.  Cooper,  now  dwells  in  the  former 
Inn  and  he  and  his  wife  have  given  the  information  about  its  history  here 
recorded. 

Watson  gives  an  extract  from  the  diary  of  John  Miller,  Esq.,  thus:  "  In 
the  afternoon  the  British  burnt  the  house  of  John  Dickinson,  Esq.,  (the  same 
now  known  as  J.  P.  Norris'  house)  also  the  tavern  of  the  whig  lady,  Mrs.  Nice 
at  the  Rising  Sun,  and  several  others  in  that  neighborhood,  on  the  German- 
town  Road."     "  This  to  their  great  shame  !  "     (Annals,  vol.  2,  p.  70.) 

The  Rising  Sun  Lane  runs  on  the  upper  side  of  the  hotel  and  strikes 
Second  Street  turnpike  north  of  the  Drove  Yard  ;  its  southwestern  terminus  is 
Broad  Street.     The  old  name  of  this  road  was  Woodpecker's  Lane. 

The  road  is  here  modernized  by  the  erection  of  small  brick  dwellings. 

Forest  Hill,  on  Rising  Sun  Lane,  was  formerly  the  residence  of  Charles  J. 
Ingersoll.  He  was  a  lawyer,  and  a  man  of  much  prominence.  He  was  the 
father  of  the  late  Harry  Ingersoll,  who  was  a  prominent  member  of  Trinity 
Episcopal  Church,  Oxford,  Philadelphia. 

Forest  Hill  is  still  in  the  family.  It  is  an  old  fashioned  mansion  with  a 
more  modern  addition,  while  an  ancient  door  draws  the  attention.  There  is 
a  stone  wall  in  front  of  the  grounds,  whjle  old  trees  give  a  look  of  antiquity. 
There  are  dormer  windows  in  the  roof. 


30  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Sydney  George  Fisher  lived  here  for  several  years.  He  married  a 
daughter  of  Mr.  Ingersoll. 

The  Reading  Coal  Railroad  runs  over  Rising  Sun  Lane  to  Richmond, 
branching  at  the  Falls. 

THE  JEWISH  BURYING  GROUND. 

On  the  Old  York  Road  a  little  below  Hunting  Park  on  the  opposite  side, 
is  a  small  Jewish  burying  ground.  A  Jewish  boy,  the  subject  of  some  sad 
tragedy,  is  said  to  be  buried  here.  The  Jews  have  a  burying  ground  in 
Market  Street,  in  the  suburbs  of  West  Philadelphia,  and  others  in  Bridge 
Street,  near  the  Cedar  Hill  Cemetery  of  Frankford.  Longfellow  has  well 
described  this  class  of  cemeteries  in  his  poem  entitled,  "  The  Jewish  Cemetery 
at  Newport." 

"  How  strange  it  seems !    These  Hebrews  in  the  gi'aves, 
Close  by  the  street  of  this  fair  seaport  town, 
Silent  beside  the  never  silent  waves, 

At  rest  in  all  this  moving  up  and  down ! 

"The  trees  are  white  with  dust,  that  o'er  their  sleep 

Wave  their  broad  curtains  in  the  south  wind's  breath 
While  underneath  such  leafy  tents  they  keep 
The  long  mvsterious  Exodus  of  Death. 


«"  The  very  names  recorded  here  are  strange, 
Of  foreign  accent,  and  of  different  climes  ; 
Alvares  and  Rivera  interchange 
With  Abraham  and  Jacob  of  old  time. 

"  '  Blessed  be  God  !  for  He  created  Death  ! ' 

The  mourners  said,  '  and  Death  is  rest  and  peace ; ' 
Then  added,  in  the  certainty  of  faith, 

'  And  giveth  Life  that  never  more  shall  cease.' " 

The  old  Toll  Gate  now  confronts  us.  It  is  a  story  and  a  half  in  height,  a 
wooden  building,  and  the  upper  story  overhangs  the  lower  one.  Here  the 
rider  has  been  bound  to  stop  for  years  to  pay  for  his  privilege  of  traversing 
the  road,  and  the  toll-gate  keeper  is  one  of  the  best  known  men  in  the  com- 
munity, the  passer-by  exchanges  a  pleasant  word  with  him  as  he  hands 
him  his  change  on  a  fine  summer  day,  or  drags  it  from  his  purse  in  winter 
when  his  fingers  are  benumbed  with  cold.  Only  those  who  are  going  church- 
ward, or  those  who  are  attending  the  sad  funeral  train  are  exempt  from 
this  tax. 

Hunting  Park  is  now  a  City  Park.  It  is  well  kept,  and  a  donkey  enjoy- 
ing the  grass  is  ready  to  declare  it  a  comfortable  place  of  recreation  for  man 
and  beast.     There  is  a  nice  mansion  at  the  entrance. 

There  are  tables  and  seats  for  rustic  enjoyment,  and  flowers  greet  the 
incomer.     These  retreats  are  blessed  resorts  in  midsummer  for  those  who  are 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  31 

sweltering  in  the  pent-up  city  streets,  and  the  pleasant  and  social  pic-nic  is 
suggested  and  invited  by  such  surroundings.  The  hard  worked  nervous 
Americans  do  not  enjoy  themselves  sufficiently  in  these  restful  fresh-air  resorts. 
An  avenue  here  is  styled  Park  Avenue.  On  the  same  side  of  the  York  Road 
with  the  Park,  that  is  on  the  west,  is  Dr.  Morton's  house  intended  to  be  used 
as  a  Presbyterian  Home.  Some  Association  lots  now  bound  the  road,  and 
David  Young's  property  extends  to  Courtland  Street. 

The  Logan  and  North  Broad  Street  Land  Associations  indicate  that  the 
York  Road  is  expected  to  be  a  place  for  suburban  residence,  and  is  making  a 
new  history. 

Opposite  the  Park  is  a  square  mansion  embowered  in  trees.  There  is 
another  large  house  with  its  lawn  above,  on  the  same  side.  It  is  ornamented 
by  a  ha-ha  wall  in  front. 

The  Excelsior  Brick  and  Stone  Company's  yard  is  on  the  road.  It  was 
moved  from  below  the  present  location.  The  residence  of  Mr.  Matthews  is 
worthy  of  note  in  this  section. 

We  cross  the  winding  Wingohocking  creek,  the  romantic  stream  which 
commemorates  the  name  of  the  Indian  chief  who  was  James  Logan's  friend, 
and,  who,  to  show  love  in  Indian  fashion,  asked  Logan  to  change  names  with 
him.  Logan  told  the  chief  that  he  might  assume  his  name,  (which  he  did,  and 
is  known  as  one  of  the  two  Logan  Indian  chiefs),  but  that  he  would  give  his 
name  to  the  creek  where  it  would  be  perpetuated,  and  so  it  still  babbles  on 
and  tells  by  day  and  night  for  centuries  the  tale  of  the  white  man  and  the 
Indian  to  the  trees  along  its  banks. 

A  stone  bridge  spans  the  creek.  This  stream  joins  Tacony  Creek  near 
Frankford,  and  becomes  Frankford  Creek. 

Broad  Street  is  here  parallel  to  Old  York  Road,  and  runs  very  near  it. 

After  crossing  the  creek  the  old  Stenton  (Logan)  property  is  touched 
where  improvements  are  going  on  in  building  new  houses.  For  a  description 
of  Stenton,  the  beautiful  country  place  of  James  Logan,  the  faithful  secretary 
of  Penn,  see  my  History  of  Germantown. 

Mr.  Lovering,  the  sugar  manufacturer,  had  a  fine  mansion,  well  shaded 
by  trees,  on  the  east  side.  He  is  dead,  and  Mrs.  Lippincott  now  occupies  it. 
Her  mother  was  a  Miss  Lovering,  and  she  is  a  granddaughter  of  the  former 
owner.  There  are  Grecian  pillars  in  the  front  of  the  house,  and  a  bay  window 
enlivens  it.  These  windows  make  a  very  pleasant  feature  in  modern  archi- 
tecture. 

Joseph  Wharton  married  Miss  Lovering,  and,  after  the  death  of  Mr. 
Lovering,  bought  the  property. 

A  neat  stone  gate-house  in  the  rear  of  this  place  introduces  to  the  Keim 
property. 

A  tower  of  the  water  works  of  the  Lovering  place  is  before  us  in  returning 
from  this  detour.     The  Lovering  estate  is  a  very  attractive  country  seat. 


32  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

The  grounds  of  Hugh  Graham,  the  florist,  next  call  our  attention.  The 
floricultural  gardens  always  furnish  a  scene  of  beauty,  as  one  wonders  at  that 
power  of  God  which  can  evolve  from  dark,  hard,  and  apparently  stony  seeds 
so  many  beautiful  and  diverse  forms,  and  such  a  wondrous  variety  of  bright 
colors. 

Horace  Smith  writes : 

"Your  voiceless  lips,  O  flowers,  are  living  preachers; 
Each  cup  a  pulpit,  and  each  leaf  a  book ; 
Supplying  to  my  fancy  numerous  teachers, 
From  loneliest  nook. 

"  Floral  apostles  that  with  dewy  splendor 

Blush  without  sin,  and  weep  without  a  crime ; 
0 !  may  I  deeplj'^  learn,  and  ne'er  surrender 
Your  love  divine." 

"  The  lilies  of  the  field  "  which  drew  our  Saviour's  consideration,  bloom 
around  our  pathway,  and  these  trained  exotics  brighten  the  winter  banquet, 
or  grace  the  wedding,  or  lighten  the  sadness  of  the  funeral. 

The  connection  of  the  North  Penn  Railroad  with  the  Germantow^n  rail- 
way running  to  Ninth  and  Green  Streets,  which  receives  its  tributary  at 
AVayne  Junction,  passes  under  the  road  here,  and  strikes  the  North  Penn 
between  Fern  Rock  and  Tabor. 

FISHER'S  LANE. 

We  now  come  to  Fisher's  Lane.  Wakefield  is  a  famous  old  country  seat 
on  this  Lane.  It  was  the  property  of  AVilliam  Logan  Fisher,  but  is  now 
owned  by  Mrs.  Samuel  Fox,  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Fisher. 

This  is  a  simple  mansion  of  an  early  day,  built  of  stone,  three  stories  in 
height,  with  a  porch  in  front,  and  having  a  pointed  roof.  A  fine  extensive 
open  lawn  lies  before  the  mansion,  while  trees  border  the  drive,  and  guard 
the  front  of  the  house. 

Little  Wakefield  joins  this  place.  George  W.  Carpenter  and  Ellicott 
Fisher  reside  here.  George  Carpenter  married  the  daughter  of  Thomas 
Fisher,  who  was  also  the  granddaughter  of  AVillam  Logan  Fisher. 

Belfield  is  near  Little  Wakefield.  This  was  Wm.  Wister's  residence, 
and  his  widow  now  dwells  there. 

At  Logan  Station,  which  is  at  the  junction  of  York  Road  and  Fisher's 
Lane,  where  the  Connecting  Railway  runs  over  the  road,  there  is  a  pretty 
depot  of  brick  and  woodwork.  The  railways  have  done  much  to  improve  the 
architecture  of  the  suburbs  by  erecting  handsome  stations,  while  the  floral 
surroundings  are  praiseworthy. 

The  great  art  critic  in  England,  John  Ruskin,  asserts  that  as  people  use 
railways  for  business  the  depots  should  be  plain  commercial  looking  structures, 
but  travellers  move  for  pleasure  as  well  as  business,  and  it  is  wise  in  railways 
to  make  their  surroundings  attractive  to  the  passing  traveller,  and  to  him  who 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  33 

stops,  or  is  obliged  to  wait  for  a  time  at  their  depots.  It  is  comforting  to  see 
the  new  railways  running  above  or  below  grade,  so  tliat  human  life  is  less 
endangered.  Will  the  pneumatic  tube  finally  shoot  us  through  space  without 
regarding  grades? 

There  are  two  pleasant  cottages  on  each  side  of  the  York  Road  on  the 
lower  side  of  Fisher's  Lane. 

The  following  from  the  North  Philadelphia  (Frankford)  Gazette,  of  August 
26th,  1892,  will  be  of  interest  in  future  years : 

READING'S  NEW  BRANCH. 

The  well-known  railroad  contractors,  Shields  &  Nolan,  of  Reading,  have 
been  awarded  the  contract  to  construct  a  branch  line  from  Logan  Station  to 
Olney,  to  Crescent vi He,  to  Frankford,  making  in  all  about  six  miles.  They 
have  commenced  work  with  a  force  of  75  men,  divided  into  six  separate 
gangs.  Three  small  locomotives,  two  steam  shovels,  one  steam  derrick  and 
other  present-day  appurtenances  used  in  the  rapid  grading  and  building  of 
roadbeds  are  employed  in  the  work.  An  unusual  feature  of  the  grading  is 
that  the  contractors  are  obliged  to  secure  10,000  square  yards  of  soil  from  the 
east  and  west  sides  of  the  North  Penn  Railroad.  On  the  east  side  Windrim 
Avenue,  which  is  the  property  of  the  city,  is  being  graded  and  portions  of  the 
ground  utilized  for  this  purpose.  On  the  west  side  of  the  track  Somerville, 
Eleventh,  Fourteenth  and  Clarkson  Streets  will  be  graded  to  the  extent  of 
16,000  square  yards,  opening  each  thoroughfare  to  1500  feet.  The  company 
has  found  the  grading  of  the  streets  a  great  convenience,  saving,  as  it  does, 
the  expense  of  securing  the  soil  at  a  more  expensive  location,  and  at  the  same 
time  the  city  will  save  the  cost  of  opening  and  grading  these  streets.  In 
order  to  reach  the  soil  on  the  west  side  of  the  track  the  company  has  tunneled 
the  North  Penn  Railroad  and  the  locomotives  will  run  under  it  and  carry  the 
stuff  over.  Another  feature  is  that  it  is  an  unusual  occurrence  in  railroad 
construction  for  contractors  not  to  have  sufficient  filling  in  along  the  route  to 
meet  every  requirement,  as  is  the  case  in  the  present  instance.  There  is  no 
blasting  of  rocks  between  Crescentville  and  Logan  Station.  Still  another 
feature  is  that  there  will  be  only  three  small  bridges  between  these  two  points. 
On  the  Frankford  side  there  are  several  bridges  to  be  built,  which  require 
25,000  square  yards  of  masonry.  The  company  has  decided  to  make  it  a 
double  track  line  for  the  running  of  both  passenger  and  freight  trains.  Jas. 
Wallace  and  a  gentleman  named  Swetland,  who  have  supervision  of  the 
work,  expect  to  have  the  roadbed  fully  completed  and  the  track  in  running 
order  from  Tabor  to  Frankford  by  next  March. — G'fn  Independent. 

On  August  30,  1892,  the   following   historical  article   appeared  in  the 

Philadelphia  Press.     It  will  be  remembered  that  the  opening  of  the  Elevated 

Rail  Road  to  Broad  Street  was  a  matter  of  much  interest.     I  saw  a  freight  car 

standing  over  Arch  Street  on  September  8th,  1892;  and  it  had  a  strange  look. 

3 


34  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

A  large  country  region  will  be  affected  by  this  depot,  and  to  watch  the  con- 
struction of  the  vast  building  is  like  reading  a  poem  on  man's  power  and 
energy  by  which  his  Creator  has  given  him  control  of  natural  objects : 

CARS  ENTER  THE  READING  TERMINAL. 

The  first  train  into  the  great,  half-constructed  train  shed  of  the  new  station 
of  the  Philadelphia  &  Reading  Railroad  at  Twelfth  and  Market  Streets  rum- 
bled over  the  iron  span  at  Arch  Street  yesterday  afternoon.  The  sight  of  a 
locomotive  with  four  freight  cars  attached,  slowly  steaming  into  the  mass  of 
iron  work  was  witnessed  by  a  large  crowd  of  people,  who  lined  Twelfth  Street 
in  that  vicinity  and  commented  upon  what  will  hereafter  be  a  common  sight. 

The  train  brought  a  load  of  ties  and  rails  for  the  new  station.  It  was 
made  up  of  three  flat  cars  and  one  box  car,  and  proceeded  very  cautiously  and 
slowly  over  the  spans  at  Arch  Street,  where  the  tracks  had  just  been  laid. 
The  completion  of  the  track  up  to  the  station  proper  enables  the  materials  to 
be  brought  through  to  the  places  where  they  are  needed,  and  saves  a  great 
deal  of  time  over  the  method  of  hauling  everything  for  a  considerable 
distance. 

This  will  facilitate  the  work  of  construction  considerably,  and  it  will  be 
rapidly  pushed  on  to  completion.  The  stone  work  on  the  station  is  still  pro- 
gressing slowly  though  somewhat  hindered  by  the  granite  cutters'  strike 
which  is  just  as  vigorous  now  as  when  it  began. 

The  Germantown  Telegraph  of  the  next  day  added  the  following  par- 
ticulars : 

THE  FIRST  TRAIN  TO  TWELFTH  AND  MARKET. 

On  Monday  afternoon  the  first  train — a  construction  train — entered  the 
new  Reading  depot  at  Twelfth  and  Market  Streets.  The  engine  drawing  this 
train  was  No.  159,  and  the  crew  were  Charles  Wanner,  engineer;  George 
Elliott,  fireman ;  W.  H.  Millard,  conductor ;  Richard  Lahey,  back  flagman  • 
John  Howard  and  Frank  Gilbert,  brakemen. 

The  Germantown  Telegraph,  August  17th,  1892,  gave  this  item  : 

RAILROAD  ACTIVITY  AT  TABOR. 

The  Frankford  branch  of  the  Reading  Railroad  is  in  course  of  active 
construction  at  this  end  of  the  line.  A  large  force  of  men  are  now  at  work  at 
the  junction  of  the  new  road  with  the  Reading  tracks  near  Logan  Station. 
Tracks  for  the  construction  engine  and  cars  have  been  laid,  and  the  fussy 
little  locomotive  is  at  work  daily  at  the  cuttings  and  embankments.  Much 
substantial  work  has  already  been  done,  and  there  is  every  indication  that  the 
whole  line  will  be  advanced  to  completion,  if  not  entirely  completed,  .before 
winter  sets  in.  This  road  also  taps  the  Newtown  Railroad,  whose  patrons  are 
now  landed  at  Berks  Street  depot,  and  who  are  thus  obliged  to  spend  half  an 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  35 

hour  in  the  horse  cars  before  reaching  the  business  quarter  of  the  city.  With 
the  completion  of  this  new  link  the  people  of  a  large  and  important  section  of 
country  will  reach  Twelfth  and  Market. 

RAILWAY  RIDE  TO  JENKINTOWN. 

Having  struck  the  line  of  railway  we  will  take  the  traveller  with  us  as 
far  as  Jenkintown  by  rail,  as  the  larger  portion  of  visitors  now  go  in  that 
way,  and  then  return  to  resume  the  York  Road  in  detail. 

At  present  one  leaves  the  depot  at  9th  and  Green  Streets,  or  that  at  3rd 
and  Berks  to  go  up  the  country,  though  soon  the  Reading  Grand  Terminal 
at  12th  and  Market  Streets  will  accommodate  crowds  of  passengers  of  the  North 
Penn  Rail  Road,  which  belongs  to  the  Reading  System. 

In  leaving  the  3rd  and  Berks  Street  Station  after  passing  a  short  distance 
through  the  suburbs,  Erie  Avenite  is  reached.  The  North  Penn  Junction  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Connecting  Rail  Road  is  near  by,  and  arrangements  are  being 
made  to  have  the  grade  crossing  abolished,  and  such  death-traps  are  happily 
disappearing  from  our  good  city,  to  the  credit  of  the  City  Fathers  and  the  rail- 
ways. This  place  rejoices  in  various  names,  as  it  is  called  Franklinville,  and 
by  neither  of  its  depot  names.  On  the  southwest  side  of  the  Pennsylvania  Rail 
Road  lies  the  contiguous  village  of  Cooperville,  which  is  really  a  part  of  this 
town.  It  took  its  name  from  Mr.  Cooper  who  had  a  hotel,  and  owned  property 
there ;  the  hotel  has  disappeared.  This  was  the  father  of  James  E.  Cooper, 
mentioned  on  page  29  of  this  volume  as  owning  the  old  Rising  Sun  Inn 
property  at  the  time  of  his  death. 

This  town  was  called  Franklinville  from  the  Franklin  Land  Company, 
which  honored  the  worthy  philosopher  in  their  new  venture  about  forty 
years  ago. 

Mr.  William  Will  informed  me  that  this  tract  was  formerly  the  farm 
property  of  Coleman  Fisher.  There  were  72  acres,  which  the  Company  cut 
into  1000  lots,  none  being  less  than  20  feet  front. 

The  mansion  house  of  stone  is  quite  old,  and  stands  at  the  southeast 
corner  of  Venango  and  Marshall  Streets.  It  was  moved  from  the  center  of 
Venango  Street.     The  work  was  done  by  Mr.  Sutton. 

The  Company  consisted  of  several  hundred  people,  and  the  lots  were 
taken  rapidly.  The  price  to  the  stockholders  was  $37.50  per  lot,  or  $40  if 
fenced  with  posts  and  rails. 

One  of  the  best  of  these  lots  within  the  last  few  years  brought  $1000  for  a 
special  purpose,  but  that  is  a  high  estimate  of  value.  They  might  average 
$400  to  $500. 

This  was  one  of  the  first  Mutual  Land  Companies  in  the  city.  The  land 
was  bought  at  $500  per  acre,  and  there  were  monthly  payments  of  $2  so  that 
the  affair  ran  out  in  less  than  two  vears. 


36  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Mr.  John  Turner  was  President.  John  Ferrier  was  Treasurer.  He  is 
now  dead.  Jacob  B.  Shannon  was  Secretary.  The  Company  was  formed 
about  forty  years  ago.     It  used  to  meet  in  Franklin  Hall  in  the  city. 

The  writer  of  this  volume  took  notes  in  a  special  interesting  conversation 
with  the  aged  Mr.  Turner  on  this  excellent  enterprise  to  aid  those  of  small 
means,  but  those  notes  were  burned  in  the  fire  at  the  Annex  Building  of  the 
Philadelphia  Times,  while  waiting  publication  in  that  journal,  much  to  the 
writer's  regret.  He,  however,  well  recalls  Mr.  Turner's  pleasure  in  showing 
his  old  papers,  and  plans  and  recounting  the  success  of  his  scheme.  The 
meeting  to  consider  the  matter  of  purchasing  homes,  held  in  a  city  hall,  was 
densely  packed,  so  that  it  was  diificult  for  Mr.  Turner  to  pass  through  the 
crowd  to  his  place.  There  was  great  enthusiasm,  and  many  lots  taken  at  once 
though  no  railway  then  touched  Franklin ville.  The  5th  and  6th  Street  horse- 
cars  now  run  through  it. 

The  plan  had  been  tried  by  Mr.  Turner,  and  perhaps  others  with  him 
previously  on  the  Old  York  Road,  with  less  success.  The  reading  of  a  theor- 
etic book  stimulated  the  idea. 

Mr.  Turner's  house  was  a  pleasant  old  fashioned  mansion  with  fine  large 
grounds  on  6th  Street.  It  had  a  country  look,  though  brick  houses  were  near 
it,  and  a  large  factory  not  far  distant.  This  gentleman  died  about  a  year  ago. 
The  following  from  the  Philadelphia  Times,  August  3, 1892  shoMs  that  the  old 
house  is  doomed  to  disappear  in  this  rushing  age  : 

"  The  old  private  parks  that  have  been  a  conspicuous  feature  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  city  are  being  rapidly  wiped  out  to  make  room  for  build- 
ing operations.  The  beautiful  estate  of  the  late  John  Turner,  at  Franklinville, 
will  soon  lose  its  identity.  The  mansion  on  the  grounds  was  built  a  quarter 
of  a  century  before  the  Revolutionary  war.  When  Mr.  Turner  purchased  it, 
more  than  a  half  century  ago,  he  enlarged  it  by  adding  an  annex  on  the 
western  side.  Mr.  Turner  planned  and  worked  for  years  to  make  Franklin- 
ville  an  industrial  center,  and  he  lived  to  realize  his  expectations.  The  old 
homestead  was  on  many  occasions  the  scene  of  notable  gatherings.  Decay 
has  not  put  its  stamp  upon  the  old  structure,  but  it  must  go  to  make  room  for 
houses  for  the  industrial  classes.  Brocklehurst  &  Co.,  contractors,  have  pur- 
chased the  estate,  and  after  Allegheny  Avenue  and  Orkney  Street  have  been 
cut  through  the  building  of  new  houses  will  commence  ". 

Franklinville  which  is  a  good  sized  suburb,  is  mainly  the  growth  of  tlie 
last  few  years. 

Potter's  extensive  Oil  Cloth  Works,  comprising  over  twenty  buildings,  on 
the  line  of  the  Connecting  Railway  give  employment  to  a  i)art  of  tlie  popu- 
lation, as  they  engage  the  work  of  several  hundred  men. 

The  late  Mr.  Thomas  Potter  founded  these  works,  and  with  his  usual 
Christian  generosity  built  a  church  for  his  workmen  and  their  families.  For 
an  account  of  the  life  of  this  noble  man  and  honored  citizen,  holding  various 
offices  of  trust,  see  my  History  of  Germantown,  (pp.  472-478.) 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  37 

Phillips,  Townsend  &  Co.,  have  a  Steel  Wire  Nail  factory  near  the  North 
Penii  Junction  Depot.  Some  of  the  Rowland  family  are  members  of  this  com- 
pany which  conducts  this  new  industry. 

Some  of  the  residents  of  Franklinville  are  employed  in  other  places,  and 
leave  home  daily  for  their  work. 

An  Oil  Refinery  stood  just  back  of  the  old  North  Penn  Depot. 

The  Episcopal  Hospital  could  be  seen  in  the  distance  from  the  front  of 
that  depot,  and  it  was  a  pleasant  sight.  The  present  station,  though  a  better 
building,  loses  the  extended  view. 

The  Jacob  Ridgway  country-seat  is  just  above  the  Oil  Cloth  Works  on  the 
left  in  leaving  the  city.  This  is  a  large  and  fine  estate.  It  was  evidently  a 
grand  place  in  its  day,  and  the  two  story  piazza  and  large  stone  barn  give  it 
a  striking  appearance.  It  was  once  the  abode  of  Mayor  Lawrence,  of  Philadel- 
phia. It  was  named  Clermont.  It  fell  into  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Rotch, 
afterwards  the  wife  of  Dr.  Rhea  Barton,  of  Philadelphia.  After  her  death  it 
was  acquired  by  the  Pennsylvania  Rail  Road,  and  the  Bustleton  Rail  Road  is 
to  leave  the  Connecting  Railway  at  this  point,  as  it  is  supposed  to  join  again 
the  New  York  main  line  several  miles  distant.  The  cattle  grazing  now  form 
a  rustic  picture  to  please  the  eye  of  the  traveller.. 

Not  far  from  this  mansion  was  the  Clermont  Seminary,  famous  in  its 
day.  It  was  established  in  A.  D.,  1806  by  John  Thomas  Carre  and  Charles 
Carre.     The  pupils  were  charged  $300  per  annum. 

John  Sanderson  was  for  some  time  prominent  as  principal.  (See  Scharf 
and  Westcott's  Histor}'-  of  Philadelphia,  Vol.  3.  p.  1925,)  and  also  (Thompson 
Westcott's  History  of  Philadelphia,  preserved  in  Scrap  Books,  vol.  5,  chap. 
Dcxxvi),  in  the  Philadelphia  Library,  and  the  Library  of  the  Historical 
Society  of  Pennsylvania  at  the  southwest  corner  of  13th  and  Locust  Streets, 
in  General  Patterson's  former  residence,  now  devoted  to  a  fitting  use. 

Clermont  Seminary  was  a  stone  building  on  the  upper  side  of  Hart  Lane.. 
When  it  was  neglected  squatters  inhabited  it,  and  at  last  it  was  burned  down. 
William  Welsh,  whose  country  place,  Strawberry  Hill,  is  near  by  in  the  edge 
of  Frankford,  was  a  scholar  here,  as  well  as  other  men  of  note. 

Professor  Samuel  Griscom  had  charge  of  this  school  about  1835.  After 
resigning  this  position  he  went  to  Virginia,  and  afterward  to  Texas,  where  he 
spent  the  later  years  of  his  life.     He  died  not  many  years  since. 

I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Lewis  J.  Carre,  grandson  of  Prof.  Charles  Carre  for 
information  as  to  his  ancestor.  The  grandfather  was  born  in  Normandy,  and 
educated  there.  One  of  the  ancestors  of  this  family  was  Governor  of  Jersey, 
or  of  Guernsey  Island,  and  one  was  with  La  Fayette  as  interpreter,  and 
returned  with  him.  He  married  an  English  lady,  and  went  to  San  Domingo, 
and  held  a  position  under  the  French  Government.  He  was  imprisoned 
during  the  insurrection  of  the  blacks  there,  and  his  wife  used  to  carry  food,  and 
thrust  it  in  to  him  through  the  prison  bars,  though  threatened  with  a  dagger 
by   the  negroes  during  that   insurrection.     The   captive  escaped   from   San 


38  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Domingo,  and  came  to  Philadelphia,  and  opened  Clermont  Seminary.  In  the 
Philadelphia  Directory  of  1817,  Carre  &  Sanderson  are  marked  as  having  a 
Seminary  at  the  south  corner  of  11th  and  High  Streets.  High  Street  is  the 
old  name  of  Market  Street. 

The  gentleman  who  fled  from  San  Domingo  was  Charles  Carre.  He  died 
in  Natchez,  Mississippi.  His  brother  was  associated  with  him  in  Clermont 
Seminary,  and  probably  in  both  institutions.  He  left  a  family  who  do  not 
now  reside  in  Philadelphia.  The  French  name  Carre  is  a  word  meaning 
square,  and  is  related  in  meaning  to  that  of  the  Ker  or  Kerr  family  of  the 
Scotch  border. 

Clermont  Seminary  appears  to  have  held  a  high  position  such  as  that  of 
Mt.  Airy  Seminary  or  College,  near  Germantown.  Possibly  this  sketch  may 
recall  school  days  to  some  former  pupils,  who  are  now  "  old  boys  ", 

In  the  Portfolio  of  November,  1810,  at  the  Library  of  the  Historical 
Society  of  Penns\dvania,  may  be  found  a  sketch  of  the  school,  and  a  picture 
of  the  building.  Matters  were  carried  on  with  military  precision,  and  garden- 
ing was  encouraged,  and  great  care  given  to  bodily  health. 

The  Hon.  Horatio  Gates  Jones,  on  July  13th,  A.  D.,  1888,  as  reported  in  The 
Philadelphia  Inquirer  of  the  following  morning,  gave  an  account  of  the  noble 
and  Christlike  work  of  one  of  Clermont's  pupils,  at  the  opening  of  the  institu- 
tion which  this  large-hearted  man  endowed,  the  George  Nugent  Home  in 
Germantown  at  Adams  and  Johnston  Streets.  It  is  intended  for  disabled 
Baptist  ministers  and  their  wives,  and  secondarily  for  ministers  of  other 
denominations.     The  portrait  of  the  founder  hangs  in  the  parlor. 

SKETCH  OF  THE  FOUNDER. 

Chairman  Jones  made  the  opening  address.  He  said  :  *'  We  meet  this 
afternoon  to  open  this  home,  which  has  been  incorporated  as  "  The  George 
Nugent  Home  for  Baptists ".  As  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  it 
devolves  upon  me  to  give  a  brief  sketch  of  the  founder,  Mr.  George  Nugent, 
through  whose  munificence  this  home  is  founded.  Mr.  George  Nugent  was 
born  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  May  3,  1809.  His  father  bearing  the  same 
name,  was  a  highly  respected,  prosperous  and  influential  merchant,  and  gave 
to  his  son  a  liberal  education  at  Clermont  Academy.  Among  his  fellow- 
students  was  our  respected  townsman,  the  Hon.  John  Welsh,  once  Minister  to 
England.  Mr.  Nugent  retired  to  a  farm  near  Balligomingo,  in  Upper  Merion, 
Montgomery  County,  and  as  his  son  showed  a  taste  for  the  business  of  manu- 
facturing, he  erected  for  him  a  large  mill,  and  he  there  continued  for  many 
years,  but  finally,  after  some  reverses,  went  to  the  city  of  Philadelphia.  While 
at  Upper  Merion,  Mr.  Nugent's  attention  was  drawn  to  the  subject  of  religion. 
In  the  year  1832,  after  a  careful  study  of  the  Scriptures,  he  was  baptized  by 
my  father,  the  late  Rev.  Horatio  G.  Jones,  and  became  a  member  of  the  Lower 
Merion  Baptist  Church,  and  so  remained  until  the  Balligomingo  Church  was 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  39 

formed,  of  which  he  became  a  deacon,  and  when  he  removed  to  Philadelphia 
he  joined  the  Eleventh  Baptist  Church,  and  subsequently  the  Broad  Street,  of 
both  of  which  he  was  a  deacon.  When  the  Second  Church  of  Germantown 
was  formed  Mr,  Nugent  was  one  of  its  constituent  members,  and  he  remained 
its  senior  deacon  as  long  as  he  lived. 

WHY  HE  ESTABLISHED  THE  HOME. 

His  interest  in  the  support  of  the  poor  members  of  Baptist  churches  arose 
from  the  performance  of  his  duties  as  a  deacon,  and  in  a  history  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Baptist  Home,  which  he  wrote  in  1880,  he  says :  '  The  idea  of  a  home 
for  the  aged,  needy  and  infirm  was  first  suggested  to  me  while  a  deacon  of  the 
Eleventh  Baptist  Church.  In  common  with  my  brethren  in  that  office,  I 
visited  many  of  the  poor  and  sick  members,  and  we  were  blessed  with  many 
of  them,  and  often  found  them  occupying  unhealthy  apartments  in  localities 
where  there  was  but  little  prospect  of  their  ever  regaining  their  health.  The 
needy  condition  of  many  of  these  required  more  care  than  they  could  possibly 
have  under  the  circumstances.  It  was  almost  impossible  to  find  suitable 
places  for  them  to  board  at  such  moderate  charges  as  the  churches  could  afford 
to  pay,  and  few  families  were  willing  to  receive  and  care  for  them.  This  gave 
rise  to  the  idea  of  a  home,  where  the  poor  and  needy  of  the  churches  could 
have  the  comforts  and  care  which  they  required.'  In  1862  Mr.  Nugent 
brought  the  matter  before  the  Philadelphia  Baptist  Association,  nor  did  he 
desist  from  his  efforts  until  a  committee  was  appointed,  of  which  he  was  the 
chairman,  to  procure  a  charter.  When  this  was  done  he  w^as  chosen  president 
and  so  remained  during  his  life.  In  fact,  Mr.  Nugent  was  the  founder  of  the 
Baptist  Home  of  Philadelphia.  To  its  support  he  gave  every  year,  and  as  he 
saw  its  prosperity  the  thought  occurred  to  him  to  establish  a  home  for  Baptist 
ministers. 

A  GIFT  OF  NEARLY  $400,000. 

His  last  will  w^as  made  December  21,  1874,  but  in  former  wills  he  had 
amply  provided  for  such  an  institution.  By  its  provisions,  after  the  death  of 
his  wife,  who  was  to  him  a  noble,  pious  helpmate,  and  the  death  of  several 
annuitants,  he  devised  the  whole  of  his  large  estate  to  found  and  support  the 
home  which  we  have  met  to  open,  and  which  in  years  to  come  we  expect  to 
enlarge  as  occasion  may  require.  Mr.  Nugent  was  deeply  interested  in  various 
societies  connected  with  his  church,  and  also  with  others.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Baptist  Publication  Society,  the  Baptist  State 
Convention,  the  Baptist  Historical  Society  and  the  American  Sunday  School 
Union.  To  each  he  gave  his  earnest  attention,  and  scarcely  ever  failed  to 
attend  the  meetings.     He  died  while  on  a  visit  to  Atlantic  City,  June  21, 1883. 

The  sum  left  by  Mr.  Nugent  for  the  establishment  of  the  Home  for 
Disabled  Ministers  amounts  to  nearly  $400,000.     The  institution  is  delight- 


40  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

fully  situated  near  Upsal  Street  Station,  on  the  Germantown  branch  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad." 

An  old  time  mansion  stands  on  Rising  Sun  Lane  and  Sixth  Street  in 
Franklin ville,  the  residence  of  the  Hassinger  family.  Captain  Abraham  Piesch 
built  it.  He  was  a  West  India  trader.  A  farm  was  then  connected  with  the 
house.  He  bought  the  place  of  John  Brinto.  Colonel  Lewis  Rush,  of  the 
militia,  afterward  owned  this  estate.  He  was  a  relative  of  Dr.  Rush.  He  rode 
from  Frankford  into  the  city  with  La  Fayette.  He  purchased  the  property  of 
Mr.  Piesch  in  1817. 

Jonathan  K.  Hassinger  was  a  son-in-law  of  Colonel  Rush.  His  children 
now  occupy  the  mansion. 

The  place  is  called  "  Cedar  Lawn  "  from  the  cedar  trees  on  it. 

Colonel  David  Stanley  Hassinger,  son  of  Jonathan  K.  Hassinger,  died  in 
1887.     He  was  under  Hartranft  and  Beaver. 

In  being  entertained  in  this  ancient  dwelling  I  could  but  admire  its  high 
ceilings,  and  noble  old  hall,  worthy  of  its  name,  as  if  in  an  English  baronial 
castle.  The  stairs  specially  draw  attention,  and  are  said  to  have  been  two 
years  in  building,  having  been  constructed  before  machinery  was  used  in  such 
work. 

The  cedar  trees  are  dying  out  and  giving  place  to  the  silver  maple. 

Mrs.  Col.  Hassinger,  and  her  two  daughters,  Mrs.  Dr.  Murph}'^  and  Miss 
Hassinger  reside  here.  Mr.  Lewis  Hassinger,  who  married  Miss  Megargee, 
lives  in  Germantown.  He  has  one  son.  A  son  of  Mrs.  Murphy,  connected 
with  the  Pennsylvania  Rail  Road,  lives  in  Reading. 

The  Gaul  place,  near  this  mansion,  was  purchased  by  the  Peerless  Brick 
Company. 

The  Charles  Ingersoll  house  close  at  hand  was  built  about  the  same  time 
as  the  Hassinger  house.     Mr.  John  Turner's  house  is  of  later  date. 

There  are  several  churches  in  Franklinville,  Rev.  Thomas  J.  Taylor,  of 
the  City  Mission  is  rector  of  Christ  Episcopal  Church  which  is  surrounded  by 
a  pretty  churchyard. 

Rev.  George  C.  Ewart  is  the  pastor  of  the  Bethesda  Baptist  Church. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  has  been  named  in  connection  with  Thomas 
Potter's  work  of  beneficence,  and  the  Methodists  also  have  a  church  here  called 
Erie  Avenue  Church.     Rev.  I.  M.  Gable  is  the  pastor. 

THE  RAILWAY  AND  THE  OLD  YORK  ROAD. 

As  one  starts  for  a  railway  trip  along  the  country  parallel  to  the  Old 
York  Road  the  Indian  names  remind  him  of  early  times  as  Lehigh  Avenue 
and  Erie  Avenue  are  crossed  on  the  North  Penn  Railway. 

In  leaving  the  Third  and  Berks  Street  depot,  in  the  northern  part  of 
Philadelphia,  the  country  district  is  soon  reached,  and  the  rows  of  brick 
houses  with  white  wooden  shutters,  which  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  describes 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  41 

as  characteristics  of  the  City  of  Brotherly  Love,  soon  merge  into  broken  lots, 
and  detached  buildings  whose  brick  walls  however  have  still  a  city  look,  and 
whose  angular  sides  seem  to  call  for  brick  blocks  of  residences  to  hold  them 
up,  and  keep  company. 

The  ragged  lines  of  suburban  lots  half  town  and  half  country  where 
))rick  yards  love  to  dwell  are  soon  fading  into  the  distance,  and  the  true  and 
loving  country  with  its  ever  sweet  and  genial  face  smiles  on  us. 

At  Erie  Avenue  a  neat  two-story  station,  colored  yellow,  has  a  small  piazza 
to  shelter  the  waiting  traveller,  and  a  friendly  tree  gives  its  shade  in  summer. 

Just  above  this  depot  the  Newtown  Railway  branches  off  to  run  through 
some  beautiful  country,  wild  in  scenery  about  McDowell's  old  Paper  Mill,  and 
through  rock-cuttings  until  it  reaches  the  neat  and  thriving  ancient  town  of 
Revolutionary  fame,  which  gives  name  to  the  railway.  The  George  School  is 
to  be  located  at  this  place. 

The  Drove  Yard,  with  its  large  three-story  brick  hotel,  surmounted  by  an 
observatory,  and  its  double  story  piazza,  and  the  adjoining  cattle  sheds  where 
butchers  congregate  next  draws  the  attention. 

The  men  "  whose  talk  is  of  bullocks,"  as  the  Apocryphal  book  of  Ecclesi- 
asticus  describes  agriculturists,  do  much  business  at  this  important  point,  and 
the  North  Penn  Drove  Yard  is  well  known  among  them. 

Before  reaching  Lindley  Station  a  beautiful  creek  runs  under  the  railway 
bridge.  This  is  one  of  the  "  complaining  brooks  "  of  which  Bryant  writes  in 
'"  Thanatopsis,"  that  they  "  make  the  meadows  green."  The  pleasant  chant 
goes  on  by  day  and  night  as  a  hymn  of  praise  to  its  Creator,  as  the  glad 
Benedicite  expresses  it,  in  the  Prayer  Book  service,  "  O  ye  Wells,  bless  ye  the 
Lord;  praise  Him,  and  magnify  Him  for  ever." 

Running  water  often  tempts  me  to  stop  on  a  bridge,  and  look  down  on 
its  flow,  as  it  seems  almost  human  in  its  ceaseless  activity,  and  is  charming  in 
its  poetry  of  motion. 

At  Lindley  Station  pretty  modern  cottages  begin  to  dot  the  country  side, 
apparently  indicating  that  city  people  frequent  the  stone  depots  that  accom- 
modate the  travellers. 

A  large,  square  mansion  is  above  the  Lindley  depot,  on  the  left,  and  a 
grand  Pennsjdvania  stone  barn  is  seen.  These  barns  form  a  striking  feature 
in  the  scenery  of  Eastern  Pennsylvania,  and  in  travelling  west  or  south  they 
are  missed  in  the  landscapes. 

Tabor  Station  takes  us  back  in  reflection  to  Mount  Tabor  of  Scripture  days, 
and  should  remind  us  of  the  transfiguration  of  the  Saviour,  delineated  thus 
in  James  Montgomery's  poem  on  the  Three  Mountains,  Sinai,  Calvary  and 
Tabor : 

"  When  on  Sinai's  top  I  see 
God  descend  in  majesty, 
To  proclaim  His  holy  law, 
All  my  spirit  sinks  with  awe." 


42  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

"  When  in  ecstasy  sublime, 
Tabor's  glorious  steep  I  climb, 
At  the  too  transporting  light 
Darkness  rushes  o'er  my  sight." 

"  When  on  Calvary  I  rest, 
God  in  flesh   made  manifest 
Shines  in  my  Redeemer's  face, 
Full  of  beauty,  truth,  and  grace." 

"  Here  I  would  forever  stay. 
Weep  and  gaze  my  soul  away; 
Thou  art  heaven  on  earth  to  me, 
Lovely,  mournful  Calvary." 

The  trees  surrounding  Tabor  are  picturesque.  A  creek  prattles  to  the 
woods,  and  complains  that  the  engines  at  Tabor  Junction  interfere  with  its 
music. 

The  cattle  crop  their  morning  pasture  in  a  meadow  below  the  railway, 
while  a  forest  of  telegraph  wires  do  their  silent  and  important  work  as  the 
train  waits  before  the  crossing  at  Tabor.  What  messages  of  business  and  of 
joy  and  sorrow,  of  life  and  death  are  those  wires  now  carrying  ? 

The  Jewish  Hospital  close  at  hand  shows  a  nobler  victory  than  that 
secured  by  Barak  when  Deborah  the  prophetess  called  him,  by  God's  direc- 
tion, to  fight  Sisera,  "  and  draw  toward  Mount  Tabor  "  with  his  army  "  of  the 
children  of  Naphtali,  and  of  the  children  of  Zebulon,"  as  narrated  in  the 
fourth  chapter  of  the  book  of  Judges ;  for  here  is  a  victory  which  leads  men  to 
freely  give  up  worldly  wealth  to  comfort  and  aid  their  suffering  fellow  men. 
Tabor  thus  rejoices  in  God's  name,  in  its  good  works,  as  should  the  ancient 
Tabor  mentioned  in  the  89th  Psalm. 

The  train  that  detained  us  has  passed,  the  whistle  of  our  engine  sounds, 
and  as  the  yellow  cars  have  gone  on  and  kindly  left  the  track  for  our  use 
another  load  of  living  freight  rushes  over  them  as  we  move  ahead. 

The  dog-wood  tree  enlivens  the  forest  as  we  reach  Fern  Rock,  with  its 
rustic  name,  and  rural  surroundings.  A  noble  stone  wall,  joining  a  wall  of 
natural  rock,  is  on  the  right,  and  a  quaint  English-looking,  long  house,  on 
the  left,  formerly  belonging  to  William  Nice,  but  now  to  A.  M.  Davis's  estate. 
On  the  opposite  side  of  the  railway  is  the  beautiful  place  of  the  late  Lieu- 
tenant Charles  Ingersoll,  of  the  U.  S.  Navy.  His  widow  occupied  it.  She 
died  during  the  printing  of  this  volume.  It  was  the  Medary  estate  before  it 
came  into  the  possession  of  Mr.  Ingersoll.  Lawnton,  with  its  summer  resort 
of  larger  size,  is  further  on  the  right,  and  we  go  on  through  a  rocky  cut. 

Among  these  thickly-set  stations  Oak  Lane  next  demands  our  attention, 
and  a  lake  and  pretty  dwellings  show  the  march  of  improvement.  Here  in  a 
cluster  of  neat  cottages  is  the  dwelling  of  Rev.  Dr.  E.  H.  Supplee,  an  Episcopal 
Clergyman,  and  an  educator  of  experience. 

Melrose  is  close  at  hand,  but  we  miss  its  old  Abbey,  and  it  is  broad  day, 
so  we  may  not  obey  Walter  Scott,  and  view  it  "  by  the  fair  moonlight." 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  43 

Now  comes  Ashbourne,  with  Mr.  Dobbins's  fine  country-place,  and  its 
Presbyterian  church,  under  the  charge  of  Rev.  Mr.  Montgomery.  St.  Paul's 
Episcopal  church  lifts  its  English-looking  square  stone  tower  near  by  on  the 
Old  York  Road.  It  has  long  been  under  the  rectorship  of  Rev.  Dr.  E.  H. 
Appleton. 

The  next  station  is  where  the  railroad  passes  over  Old  York  Road,  which 
we  have  long  been  skirting,  at  Shoemakertown,  as  it  was  known  for  genera- 
tions in  honor  of  an  early  family  of  settlers  of  that  name,  but  the  moderns 
have  styled  it  Ogontz,  and  the  Post  Office  bears  the  same  new  name,  while 
the  celebrated  Ogontz  Female  Seminary  is  near  at  hand. 

Church  Road  Station  marks  the  old  road  between  Trinity  church, 
Oxford,  and  St.  Thomas's  church,  Whitemarsh,  where  English  Missionaries 
of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  used  to  travel  their  godly 
round,  as  one  clergyman  would  hold  both  parishes. 

Chelton  Hills  is  the  depot  where  John  Wanamaker's  country-seat  is 
located. 

Julianna's  Cave  is  on  the  railway,  on  the  right,  and  now  we  are  at 
Jenkintown,  and  Hotel  Beechwood  rises  on  the  hill  to  shelter  summer 
sojourners  who  flee  the  city's  heat. 

We  go  back  now  and  take  up  the  description  of  the  Old  York  Road  as  a 
highway. 

HUNTING  PARK.^ 

This  park  contains  about  45  acres  of  ground.  It  lies  at  the  intersection 
of  Nicetown  Lane  and  Old  York  Road.  It  was  formerly  called  Hunting 
Park  race-course. 

Some  famous  trotting  races  occurred  here.  Top  Gallant,  the  Dutchman, 
a  noted  three  mile  trotter.  Whalebone,  Lady  Suffolk,  Pelham,  Lady  Sutton, 
Jack  Rossiter,  Lady  Moscow,  War  Eagle,  Gray  Eagle,  Mack,  Zachary  Taylor, 
and  Tacony,  who  ungallantly  lowered  the  time  record  of  Lady  Suffolk,  were 
noted  horses  here.     The  place  fell  into  disrepute  by  reason  of  gambling,  &c. 

It  was  purchased  in  1854  by  a  number  of  gentlemen,  some  of  whom  were 
interested  in  real  estate  in  the  neighborhood,  and  presented  to  the  city,  on 
Nov.  9th  of  that  year,  and  accepted  by  Councils  Jan.  29th,  A.  D.  1855. 
By  an  ordinance,  July  10th,  '56,  the  ground  was  dedicated  free  of  access  for 
all  inhabitants  of  the  city,  and  for  the  health  and  enjoyment  of  the  people 
forever.  By  an  act,  April  4th,  '72,  the  Commissioners  of  Fairmount  Park 
were  given  control  of  this  pleasure  ground,  and  authorized  to  open  a  street 
from  Fairmount  Park  to  it,  and  keep  it  in  repair  as  a  Park  road.  (See  Public 
Ledger  Almanac,  A.  D.  '88,  p.  7.) 

When  I  passed  this  Park  some  time  ago  a  scaffolding  seemed  to  indicate 
that  political  eloquence  had  resounded  within  it. 

'  See  also  page  30. 


44  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

The  connection  of  the  B.  &  O.  and  Reading  R.  R's  is  expected  to  draw  a 
railway  near  Hunting  Park. 

It  is  pleasant  to  know  that  the  city  is  trying  to  increase  the  number  of  its 
parks,  or  breathing  places,  which  Addison  called  the  "  lungs  of  a  city."  This 
one  presents  a  ^pleasant  appearance.     John  B.  Lukens  is  the  Superintendent. 

Albanus  C.  Logan  sold  the  part  of  the  Stenton  estate  on  the  opposite  side 
of  York  Road  from  the  mansion  to  Mr.  Lovering. 

Iliere  was  a  Snuff  Mill  on  the  Logan  estate.  It  stood  in  the  hollow 
between  York  Road  and  Broad  Street  on  Wingohocking  Creek,  on  the  left 
hand  in  ascending  the  road.  The  hill  here  was  called  Snuff  Mill  Hill.  The 
mill  was  a  large  stone  building  roughcast.  It  stood  idle  for  years,  and  was 
no  longer  in  existence  eighteen  or  twenty  years  ago. 

The  keeper  of  the  first  toll  gate  on  the  Old  York  Road  above  Rising  Sun 
was  for  many  years  David  Mott  of  Branchtown. 

The  following  is  from   The  Philadelphia  Inquirer  of  May  9th,  A.  D.  1891 : 

IMPROVEMENTS  ON  OLD  YORK  ROAD. 

J.  B.  Lippincott,  Jr.,  is  having  erected  a  handsome  suburban  stone  resi- 
dence at  Old  York  Road  and  Rockland  Street,  on  the  grounds  of  the  Logan 
Real  Estate  Company,  near  Logan  Station.  The  dwelling  is  to  be  a  rough- 
faced  Germantown  graystone  to  the  second  fioor,  with  ornamental  shingles 
above.  It  will  have  a  frontage  of  27  feet  and  extend  back  45  feet.  A  rustic 
stone  porch  will  adorn  the  corner.  The  house  is  to  contain  twelve  rooms. 
Immediately  east  of  the  Lippincott  building  on  Rockland  Street,  Harry 
Schultz  will  erect  a  large  frame  three-story  dwelling,  with  a  frame  stable  in 
the  rear,  for  Mr.  William  Weir,  Jr.  Schmutz  Brothers  are  erecting  a  notice- 
able frame  structure  for  Leonard  Stoll,  on  Albanus  Street.  Plans  are  also 
being  made  for  other  houses. 

The  Lovering  property  described  on  page  31  was  purchased  by  that 
gentleman  of  Mr.  Hanson  who  erected  the  mansion,  which  was  enlarged  by 
Mr.  Lovering.    It  is  now  the  residence  of  J.  Bertram  Lippincott,  the  publisher. 

The  Keim  property  named  on  page  31  was  that  of  ex-Sheriff  Keim. 

For  an  account  of  Wakefield,  Little  Wakefield,  and  Belfield,  see  the  late 
Townsend  Ward's  most  interesting  articles  on  the  Germantown  Road,  in  the 
Penna.  Magazine  of  History  and  Biography,  Vol.  5. 

Logan  Station  perpetuates  the  name  of  James  Logan  the  famous  Secre- 
tary of  Pennsylvania,  the  owner  of  Stenton,  and  the  founder  of  the  Loganian 
Library,  now  a  part  of  the  Philadelphia  Library. 

Logan's  Mill  was  on  the  York  Road,  5  miles  north  of  Philadelphia,  and 
was  the  place  for  taking  grain  from  Mooreland  (about  Hatboro)  to  be  ground 
as  late  as  1720.  It  was  carried  on  horseback.  Grain  was  also  conveyed  to 
Morris  Gwin's,  and  Lewis's  mills,  both  on  Pennypack  creek,  in  Lower  Dublin. 
To  these  last  two  mills  the  Gwynedd  people  would  sometimes  go  in  pro- 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  45 

cessions  of  thirty  or  forty  for  20  miles  along  the  Welsh  Road.  (See  Buck's 
Mooreland.) 

On  the  lower  side  also  is  Mr.  Hoemiller's  former  place  with  two  houses 
on  it.  There  are  also  two  modern  cottages  on  this  side  of  the  Way,  and 
two  stone  houses  of  older  growth  on  the  upper  side.  In  the  distance  Mr. 
Stevenson's  stone  house  is  visible. 

The  estate  of  Joseph  Price  lies  on  the  upper  side  of  the  way.  There  is  an 
old  fashioned  stone  mansion  surrounded  by  a  good  sized  tract  of  ground, 
containing  some  other  houses. 

Lindley  Station,  with  its  boarding  house,  is  at  this  point. 

The  Wakefield  property  touches  the  York  Road. 

FAIRFIELD. 

The  Old  York  Road  is  spoken  of  in  Townsend  Ward's  "  Germantown 
Road,"  (No.  3  of  Vol.  6,  p.  259.) 

John  Hart  is  named  in  Ward's  "Second  Street,"  (Id.  Vol.  4,  p.  57.)  The 
farm  of  Hart  was  called  Fairfield.  It  belonged  to  Alfred  Cope,  and  is  now 
owned  by  his  daughter  Mrs.  Philip  C.  Garrett.  Faarfald  means  Sheephill,  as 
De  Quincey's  Literary  Reminiscences  note.  Still  it  probably  here  may  refer 
to  the  pleasant  country. 

Mr.  Garrett  was  President  of  the  Committee  of  One  Hundred.  The 
grounds  are  well  wooded.  . 

One  of  the  Copes  received  a  foreign  title.  He  wrote  a  novel  entitled, 
"  The  Greys  of  Grey  bury,"  by  the  Marquis  Bid  die-Cope. 

The  mansion  is  near  the  road.  Pretty  box-wood  lines  the  wall  and  the 
well  kept  lawn.  A  piazza  diversifies  the  front  of  the  house,  and  there  is  a 
hedge  in  front  of  the  grounds.  The  whole  establishment  has  a  cosy  and  com- 
fortable appearance. 

Judge  Samuel  W.  Pennypacker  writes  such  interesting  historical  essays  as 
to  make  one  wish  that  he  were  always  writing  them.  In  his  "  Historical  and 
Biographical  Sketches,"  published  by  Robert  A.  Tripple,  of  Philadelphia,  he 
has  an  article  on  a  former  resident  in  Fairfield,  according  to  the  notes  of  Mrs. 
Anna  de  B.  Mears,  taken  from  Lippincott's  Magazine  for  April,  1874,  entitled 
"  Samuel  Richardson,  A  Councilor,  Judge  and  Legislator  of  the  Olden  Time." 

In  1686,  less  than  four  years  after  Penn's  arrival,  a  bricklayer  from 
Jamaica,  named  Samuel  Richardson,  purchased  5880  acres  of  Pennsylvania 
land,  and  two  large  lots  on  High  Street  (now  Market),  paying  therefor  £340. 
He  brought  a  certificate  frqm  the  Friends'  Meeting  in  Spanish  Town  "  yt  he 
and  his  wife  hath  walked  amongst  us  as  becomes  Truth."  Richardson 
became  a  merchant  and  bought  another  lot  from  Penn  on  High  Street  to 
build  quays  and  wharves,  and  owned  all  the  north  side  of  High  Street 
between  the  Delaware  River  and  Second  Street. 


46  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

In  1688,  Wm.  Bradford,  the  well-known  early  printer  of  the  Province, 
undertook  the  momentous  task  of  publishing  by  subscription  a  "  house  Bible  " 
of  large  size.  This  was  the  first  American  attempt  of  this  kind,  and  that  the 
city  burghers  might  feel  sure  that  the  money  was  rightly  spent  when 
advanced  largely  he  announced  that  Samuel  Richardson  and  Samuel  Car- 
penter "  are  appointed  to  take  care  and  be  assistant  in  the  laying  out  of  the 
'  Subscription  Money'  and  to  see  that  it  be  employed  to  the  use  intended."  A 
copy  of  the  circular  was  discovered  in  the  binding  of  an  ancient  volume. 

Richardson  was  elected  to  a  seat  in  the  Provincial  Council  in  1688,  and 
was  a  member  of  the  Assembly  in  1691,  and  most  of  the  years  thereafter  until 
1709.  He  was  a  political  leader  in  his  day,  and  had  the  various  experiences 
which  are  the  lot  of  such  a  high  position.  Human  nature  is  the  same  in  a 
Province,  a  State,  or  a  Kingdom. 

In  closing  his  sketch  Judge  Pennypacker  writes,  "  For  many  years  after 
his  arrival  in  Pennsylvania,  Richardson  lived  upon  a  plantation  of  five  hun- 
dred acres  near  Germantown,  and  probably  superintended  the  cultivation  of 
such  portions  of  it  as  were  cleared.  There  he  had  horses,  cattle  and  sheep. 
The  Friends'  Records  tell  us  that  several  grandchildren  were  born  in  his 
house  and  from  the  account  book  of  Daniel  Pastorius  we  learn  that  w^hen 
they  grew  older  they  were  sent  to  school  at  the  moderate  rate  of  fourpence  per 
week.  On  the  19th  of  April,  1703,  however,  Ellinor,  his  wife,  died,  and  some 
time  afterward,  probably  in  the  early  part  of  the  year  1705,  he  removed  to 
the  city.  (The  Abington  monthly  meeting  records  for  23d  of  12th  mo.,  1701, 
say  '  Samuel  Richardson  having  desired  that  friends  should  keep  a  Meeting 
of  Worship  at  his  house,  and  this  meeting  having  answered  his  request  have 
ordered  also  that  friends  do  meet  at  his  house  on  ye  sd  sixth  day  in  every 
month,  considering  ye  weakness  of  his  wife.') 

"  He  married  again,  and  lived  in  a  house  somewhere  near  the  intersection 
of  Third  and  Chestnut  Streets,  which  contained  a  front  room  and  kitchen  on 
the  first  floor,  two  chambers  on  the  second  floor,  and  a  garret. 

"  In  the  next  year  he  was,  unanimously  elected  one  of  the  Aldermen  of 
the  city,  and  this  position  he  held  thereafter  until  his  death." 

The  poverty  of  the  young  city  appears  in  the  fact  that  when  Griffith  and 
John  Jones  were  ordered  by  the  Town  Council  to  buy  a  set  of  brass  weights 
costing  £12,  12s,  they  gave  individual  notes,  taking  an  obligation  from  the 
corporation,  which  was  presented  often  but  not  paid  until  five  years  had 
passed  away. 

In  1710  the  Council  resolved  to  build  a  new  market-house  for  the 
butchers,  and  raised  funds  by  individually  subscribing  money  and  goods. 
Richardson  was  one  of  the  fourteen  largest  subscribers,  who  gave  each  five 
pounds.  When  the  building  was  completed  in  1713  he  received  appointment 
as  one  of  the  clerks  of  the  market  to  collect  rents,  &c.,  with  a  commission  of 
ten  per  cent,  for  his  services.  His  last  attendance  at  a  meeting  of  the  Town 
Council  was  on  Oct.  1st,  1717. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  47 

He  died  on  the  10th  of  June,  A.  D.  1719,  being  of  an  "  advanced  age," 
and  leaving  a  large  estate. 

"  His  wardrobe  consisted  of  a  new  coat  with  plate  buttons,  cloth  coat  and 
breeches,  loose  cloth  coat  and  drugget  waistcoat,  old  cloak,  old  large  coat  and 
'  Round  robin,'  two  fustian  frocks  and  breeches,  two  flannel  waistcoats,  three 
pair  of  old  stockings,  two  hats,  linen  shirts,  leather  waistcoat,  and  breeches, 
six  neckcloths,  three  handkerchiefs,  one  pair  of  new  and  two  pair  of  old 
shoes." 

"  He  had  four  children,  Joseph,  the  only  son,  married  in  1696,  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  John  Bevan,  (John  Bevan's  wife  was  Barbara  Aubrey,  aunt  of  the 
William  Aubrey  who  married  Letitia  Penn,  a  descendant  of  Sir  Reginald 
Aubrey,  one  of  the  Norman  conquerors  of  Wales),  and  from  about  the  year 
1713  lived  at  Olethgo,  on  the  Perkiomen  Creek  in  Providence  township, 
Philadelphia  (now  Montgomery)  County.  This  marriage  was  preceded  by  a 
carefully  drawn  settlement,  iA  which  the  father  of  the  groom  entailed  upon 
him  the  plantation  of  five  hundred  acres  near  Germantown,  and  the  father 
of  the  bride  gave  her  a  marriage  portion  of  two  hundred  pounds.  Of  the 
three  daughters,  Mary,  the  eldest,  married  William  Hudson,  one  of  the 
wealthiest  of  the  pioneer  merchants  of  Philadelphia,  mayor  of  the  city  in 
1725,  and  a  relative  of  Henry  Hudson  the  navigator.  Ann  married  Edward 
Lane  of  Providence  township,  Philadelphia  County,  and  after  his  death 
Edmund  Cartledge  of  Conestoga,  in  Lancaster  County ;  and  Elizabeth  married 
Abraham  Bickley,  also  a  wealthy  merchant  of  Philadelphia.  Among  their 
descendants  are  many  of  the  most  noted  families  of  the  eastern  Counties  of 
Pennsylvania." 

Judge  Pennypacker  has  another  sketch  in  this  volume  of  Captain  Joseph 
Richardson,  the  grandson  of  Samuel  Richardson,  which  was  taken  from  the 
Penn  Monthly,  of  Feb.,  1876. 

Fairfield  was  once  the  summer  abode  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Drinker  the 
writer  of  the  ancient  journal  which  has  lately  been  published  by,  the  J.  B. 
Lippincott  Company,  edited  by  her  descendant,  Henry  D.  Biddle.  It  presents 
a  striking  view  of  Philadelphia  in  Revolutionary  and  yellow  fever  times,  and 
is  a  pretty  picture  of  the  simplicity  and  hospitality  and  peace-loving  spirit  of 
the  worthy  Friends  of  that  day. 

The  Drinkers  lived  at  the  northwest  corner  of  Front  Street  and  Drinker's 
Alley.  Old  Philadelphia  names  abound  in  these  simple  records  of  daily  life, 
interspersed  with  country  journeys.  • 

On  January  29th,  1794,  is  this  note  (page  219).  "  H.  D.,  (that  is  Henry 
Drinker  the  husband  of  Elizabeth  Drinker)  set  off  about  ten  this  forenoon,  for 
to  take  a  view  of  a  plantation  which  is  for  sale  about  6  miles  from  the  city, 
between  ye  old  York  road  and  Germantown.  Soon  after  his  departure  it 
began  to  snow,  he  went  but  two  miles,  then  returned — ye  roads  bad  and  his 
horse  not  properly  shod  ". 


48  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

"  May  7,  H.  D.  and  M.  S.  went  after  dinner  to  ye  Farm — took  up  with 
them  several  boxes  with  China,  &c  ". 

"  May  17,  H.  S.  1).  and  W.  D.,  went  after  dinner  to  the  Farm  in  the 
Chaise  ;  the  old  mare  draws  them.  Henry  brought  home  three  strawberries 
and  6  or  8  ripe  Cherries  from  ye  Farm.  It  proves  this  to  be  a  very  early 
spring,  as  I  do  not  recollect  seeing  any  before  ye  spring  Fair,  and  I  don't 
remember  then  but  once  falling  at  that  time — half  a  Dozen  tied  to  a  stick  for 
a  penny  ". 

"  May  24,  H.  D.,  M.  S.,  and  Sally  Brant  went  to  Clearfield — the  name 
which  H.  D.  has  given  to  ye  Farm ;  as  James  Fisher  has  a  place  that  has  been 
called  Newington  for  many  years  past,  'twas  thought  best  to  change  the 
name  ". 

"  June  14,  John  ye  gardener  came  this  afternoon  with  the  cart  and  old 
sorrel — took  up  a  load  of  necessaries,  H.  D,  and  E.  D.  in  the  Chaise  with  our 
good  old  mare,  Billy,  Mollie  and  Sally  Brant  ill  the  Coaches ;  Jo  drove  them. 
We  arrived  at  Clearfield  before  6  o'clock — a  very  beautiful  and  pleasant  place 
it  is  ;  how  delighted  and  pleased  would  many  women  be,  with  such  a  retreat. 
I  hope  a  degree  of  thankfulness  is  not  wanting  in  me  for  the  many  favors  we 
are  blessed  with.  Should  our  dear  William  be  restored  to  a  comfortable  state 
of  health  by  our  removal  into  the  Country,  the  end  would  be  abundantly 
answered  in  my  view  ". 

The  finding  of  two  tortoises,  and  W.  D's.  riding  and  walking,  and  sitting 
"  on  a  stump  looking  at  ye  workmen  who  are  building  a  barn  for  Sammy 
Fisher,"  and  the  mother's  uneasiness  at  his  exposure  on  this  hot  day,  in  such 
observation  are  duly  noted.  Mother  and  son  are  now  beyond  the  sun's  heat, 
and  the  danger  of  disease,  but  these  touches  of  life  are  sweet  remembrance;^. 

As  Guiderius  sings  in  Shakespeare's  Cymbeline: 

"Fear  no  more  the  heat  o'  the  sun, 
Nor  the  furious  winter's  rages; 
Thou  thy  worldly  task  hast  done, 

Home  art  gone,  and  ta'en  thy  wages  ". 

Act  IV,  Scene  II. 

"  June  17.  We  went  to  the  top  of  our  house  this  afternoon ;  the  top  is 
almost  flat  and  railed  in.  The  prospect  from  it  is  beautiful,  ye  Church  Steeple 
plain  to  be  seen  ;  if  the  wood  that  intercepts  the  sight  were  away,  I  believe  we 
would  see  it  in  ye  new  parlor  ". 

"  I  went  this  morning  to  Bickley's,  our  tenant,  to  settle  some  matters 
relative  to  butter,  eggs,  &c.     His  sister,  Betsy  Bickley  keeps  his  house  ". 

The  Germantown  Church  bell  was  distinctly  heard,  though  the  Town 
Clocks  were  missed. 

So  the  charming  mornings,  quiet  afternoons  and  social  evenings 
passed  in  the  old  homestead  generations  ago.  The  country  experiences  are 
pleasant.  The  4th  of  July  guns  sound  out  from  the  City.  Cooking  and  hay- 
making and  washing  and  looking  into  surrounding  natural  history,  and  the 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  49 

study  of  Lavater  on  Physiognomy  are  treated  of,  and  this  pious  and  sensible 
woman  ever  found  something  to  learn  and  record  for  her  own  future  benefit 
and  that  of  others.  Mr.  Biddle  has  done  a  good  deed  in  giving  this  manu- 
script to  the  public. 

He  sent  me  the  following  letter  concerning  the  old  place,  and  an  accom- 
panying diagram  showing  that  about  1803  it  was  bounded  by  the  lands  of 
Francis  Breuil,  John  Morton,  Joseph  Swift,  John  Hart,  Thomas  Fisher  and 
Richard  Neave.  There  was  Woodland  and  a  Spring  on  the  tract  of  about  36| 
acres  in  the  plan,  situate  exactly  six  miles  from  the  old  Court  House  in  Phila- 
delphia, and  about  one  mile  from  Germantown. 

No.  311|  Walnut  Street, 
Philadelphia,  Aug.  12,  1892. 
Rev.  S.  F.  Hotchkin, 

Bustleton. 

Dear  Sir : — Yours  of  11th  inquiring  as  to  the  location  of  "  Clearfield  ", 
Elizabeth  Drinker's  country  home  is  received. 

When  I  published  her  journal,  I  was  unable  definitely  to  locate  the  place, 
although  I  had  taken  some  pains  to  do  so.  Since  then,  however,  I  have 
ascertained  it  is  the  place  lately  owned  and  occupied  by  Alfred  Cope,  and 
called  bj''  him  "  Fairfield  " ;  and  is  now  in  the  possession  and  occupancy  of  his 
daughter,  Mrs.  Philip  C.  Garrett.  It  is  on  the  east  side  of  the  Old  York  Road, 
a  short  distance  above  Fisher's  Lane,  adjoining  the  property  of  the  late 
Clayton  French,  Esq.,  and  is  at  Logan  Station,  Philadelphia  and  Reading 
Railroad. 

On  March  17,  1794,  Henry  Drinker  agreed  with  Daniel  King  of  Philadel- 
phia, brass  founder,  for  the  sale  to  him  of  about  74  acres  (38  acres  on  the  east 
side  of  the  Old  York  Road,  including  all  the  buildings,  and  36J  acres  on 
the  west  side). 

Henry  D.  sold  the  38  acres  and  buildings  to  Jotin  Gerar  William  de 
Brahm — to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  "  Bellair " ;  as  Mrs.  Drinker  says, 
"  the  air  there  was  esteemed  remarkably  pure  ".  Jno.  G.  W.  de  Brahm  died 
in  June  1799,  and  his  widow  sold  the  same  to  John  Hart,  apothecary.  I 
believe  John  Hart,  or  his  heirs,  conveyed  the  same  to  Alfred  Cope.  The  old 
house  still  remains,  but  it  has  been  altered  and  added  to,  and  much  changed. 

The  S6^  acres  on  the  west  side  of  the  road,  Henry  Drinker  gave  to  his 
son  William.  (I  enclose  a  copy  of  an  old  plan  of  the  same — drawn  about 
1803)— in  October,  1803  (Deed  Book  EF,  No.  14,  page  168,  &c).  William 
Drinker  sold  the  said  36|  acres  in  May,  1810,  to  Joseph  Ely  for  $3300 — a  little 
over  ninety  dollars  per  acre,  which  seems  to  us  to  have  been  rather  a  low 
price. 

I  am  Yours  Very  Truly, 

Henky  D.  Biddle. 

I  add  that  an  interesting  account  of  the  de  Brahms  may  be  found  in  Mrs. 
Mears's  "  Old  York  Road  ". 
4 


50  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Charles  W.  Wharton,  the  son-in-law  of  Mr.  Lovering,  whose  place  is  below 
has  fine  grounds  on  the  west.  The  land  is  rolling,  which  gives  a  pleasing 
diversity  to  its  surface.  There  is  a  modern  house  and  a  quaint  porch. 
Russell  Smith,  the  artist,  formerly  owned  this  place,  and  lived  on  it. 

The  next  house,  on  the  same  side,  is  the  stone  mansion  of  J.  S.  Lovering 
Wharton  with  its  ample  piazza.  This  gentleman  is  the  son  of  Charles  W. 
Wharton. 

On  the  other  side  the  Fern  Rock  Boarding  House  enlivens  the  road  and 
gives  the  pleasure  of  country  life  to  city  boarders  in  summer.  The  shady 
piazzas  are  attractive. 

There  is  a  little  house  on  the  same  side  of  the  way  where  General  Wash- 
ington is  said  to  have  spent  a  night. 

Joseph  Wharton's  place  lies  next  above  that  of  Lovering  Wharton.  It  is 
a  very  fine  house,  with  a  massive  stone  entrance  and  a  pretty  water  view 
within. 

Mr.  Joseph  Wharton  married  another  daughter  of  Mr.  Lovering.  He  is 
a  brother  of  Charles  Wharton. 

The  mansion  is  so  large  and  has  so  commanding  a  position  that  it  is  a 
pleasant  landmark  in  the  surrounding  country. 

The  miniature  lake  and  ever  refreshing  view  of  water  is  a  very  acceptable 
and  cheerful  sight,  especially  in  summer.  Plato  thought  that  a  traveller 
should  not  lodge  in  a  city  which  did  not  have  a  living  stream  running  by  it. 
Philadelphia  would  haVe  met  his  requirement  both  in  its  city  proper,  and  its 
rural  districts. 

Dr.  Shelmerdine  formerly  lived  on  Joseph  Wharton's  place.  He  was 
long  a  practising  physician  in  this  neighborhood. 

Opposite  the  Morris  Davis'  place  resided  the  widow  of  Dr.  Smith.  The 
building  was  once  a  hotel  kept  by  William  Wilson. 

Fern  Rock,  a  little  way  from  the  York  Road  on  the  right  in  driving 
from  Germantown,  was  the  home  of  Judge  Kane,  and  it  gave  name  to  the 
Depot  on  Green  Lane,  as  the  Reading  Rail  Road  could  not  have  two  depots 
of  the  same  name,  and  had  one  named  Green  Lane. 

The  Kane  estate  is  on  the  upper  side  of  Green  Lane.  The  Judge  was 
the  father  of  the  celebrated  Elisha  Kent  Kane,  the  Arctic  explorer.  The 
mansion  has  been  enlarged  by  an  addition  of  wood,  the  old  part  being  of 
stone.     It  is  now  a  boarding-house. 

After  Judge  Kane's  death  Mr.  Potter  owned  the  property  for  a  time,  and 
afterward  Stephen  Price  was  the  owner. 

A  stone  wall  prettily  capped  runs  in  front  of  the  place,  and  gives  a  look 
of  solid  stability  to  it. 

The  boarding  house  is  called  Kenilworth,  perpetuating  the  memory  of 
Walter  Scott. 

Passing  Fern  Rock  the  ivy-clad  farm-house,  and  ancient  barn  of  Mrs. 
Harry  IngersoU's  place  are  prominently  in  view.  The  pleasant  mansion  is 
seen  in  the  distance.     Medary  is  the  name  of  the  estate. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  51 

There  is  a  pretty  stone  entrance,  with  a  stone  wall  and  a  gate-cottage. 

On  the  south  side,  opposite,  is  the  extensive  property  of  Miss  Mary  D.  Fox, 
which  has  been  long  in  the  family.     The  name  of  this  place  is  Champlost. 

Gray  massive  stones  compose  the  barn,  which  is  often  a  striking  feature 
in  country  districts.  The  barn  has  loopholes  for  ventilation.  There  is  a 
farm-house  of  stone. 

The  lawn  is  remarkably  beautiful,  and  it  displays  a  fine  taste  in  the 
arrangement  of  its  flowers  and  trees,  and  rhododendrons  add  their  beauty  to 
the  scene,  while  open  ground  is  interspersed  among  the  trees. 

A  pleasant,  old-fashioned  mansion  of  stone  is  in  the  central  part  of  the 
lawn,  and  nature  looks  pleasanter  when  the  abodes  of  human  life  are  beheld, 
which  show  that  there  are  eyes  to  see,  and  minds  to  appreciate  her  beauty. 

The  house  is  adorned  by  a  piazza,  and  surmounted  by  dormer  windows. 

The  property  extends  from  Fern  Rock  to  Tabor,  and  along  the  railroad, 
and  from  the  railway  to  the  New  Second  Street,  bordering  on  Green  Street 
and  Fisher's  Lane. 

A  stone  wall  runs  along  a  part  of  the  boundary  on  Fisher's  Lane. 

The  Land  Association  ground  on  Fisher's  Lane  is  opposite  the  Fox  place. 

The  Dickson  property  is  also  opposite  the  Fox  farm.  It  is  called  Maple 
Grove,  and  is  a  part  of  the  estate  of  the  late  James  Newton  Dickson.  The 
old  mansion  was  reached  through  a  long  double  avenue  of  fine  old  maples. 

Mr.  Dickson  used  this  as  a  country-seat  in  summer,  coming  out  from 
Philadelphia.  He  was  of  the  dry  goods  firm  of  Dickson  &  Brother  for  several 
years,  in  Market  Street,  below  5th  Street.  His  brother  Levi  was  his  partner. 
The  firm  sold  to  Heiskell  &  Hoskins,  and  retired.  Levi  died  several  years 
ago,  James  having  died  previously. 

The  mansion  of  this  country-seat  was  burned  a  number  of  years  since 
and  has  not  been  rebuilt. 

In  Watson's  Annals  of  Philadelphia,  Vol.  2,  pp.  73,  74,  is  the  following 
concerning  this  place:  "Some  very  old  tombstones  are  still  in  existence  near 
Crescentville,  in  Bristol  township  on  the  country-seat  of  James  N.  Dickson, 
which  have  been  intended  to  designate  the  remains  of  a  mother  and  her  two 
sons,  of  the  name  of  Price,  of  Welsh  origin  who  died  there  in  1702."  The 
inscriptions  run  thus:  No.  1.  "For  the  Memory  For  Elizabeth  Price,  who 
died  Avgvst  the  2  st  1697."  No.  2.  "  For  the  Memory  of  John  Price  who 
died  Jvne  the  11th  Day  1702  aged  20  years."  No.  3.  "  For  the  Memory  of 
Rees  Price  who  died  Jvly  17  day  1702  aged  23  years. 

Back  of  No.  2. 

"This  YOVNG  man  was 
So  much  with  sence  indved 
That  of  his  own  and 
Brothers  Death  conclvde 
Saying  Dear  Brother 
This  know  well  Do  i 
'Twill  not  be  long 
Before  we  both  must  die." 


52  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Back  of  No.  3. 

"  These  are  first 
Thats  in  this  Dust  i  say 
God's  Sabbath  kept 
To  wit  ye  seventh  Day 
in  faith  they  DY'D 
Here  side  by  side  remain 
Till  Christ  shall  come 
To  raise  them  up  again." 

Dickson's  Lane  runs  into  Adams  Street. 

Opposite  this  place  is  a  yellow  stone  house.  It  was  formerly  the  resi- 
dence of  Mr.  Darnell.     Mr.  Supplee  was  an  owner,  but  is  now  dead. 

Joining  Mrs.  Harry  Ingersoll's  place  is  George  Robert  Smith's  former 
property,  which  he  sold  to  Dr.  S.  S.  White.     It  belongs  to  the  Doctor's  heirs. 

It  is  a  large  wooden  mansion. 

Green  Lane  was  stoned  by  the  property  holders,  but  the  city  now  keeps 
up  the  road. 

Brookwood,  the  residence  of  James  Logan  Fisher  and  his  sisters,  is  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  places  in  this  section  of  country.  It  was  owned  by 
Mr.  Fisher's  father. 

There  are  different  entrances,  the  one  from  Green  Lane  is  by  a  sunken 
driveway,  bordered  by  a  stone  wall.  The  winding  drives,  and  rolling  ground 
and  pretty  trees,  and  ample  mansion  make  a  fine  picture. 

The  house  has  been  altered  and  improved  of  late  years.  It  is  a  stone 
building,  and  a  piazza  embellishes  it.  It  looks  pleasantly  in  the  distance  in 
its  rural  surroundings,  and  is  cosy  within. 

Trinity  Episcopal  Chapel,  Crescentville,  near  by  is  on  land  given  by  this 
family.  It  is  a  part  of  Trinity  Parish,  Oxford,  now  in  charge  of  Rev.  H.  A. 
F.  Hoyt;  Rev.  Dr.  Buchanan,  Rev.  R.  Bowden  Shepherd  and  Rev.  Henry 
Macbeth  were  former  rectors. 

Mr.  Joseph  Swift's  property,  afterward  Clayton  French's,  is  next  above  the 
Cope  place,  on  the  same  side.  It  has  a  wide  lawn.  The  fine  mansion  is  built 
of  brown  stone.  Mr.  French  was  a  wholesale  dealer  in  drugs.  There  is  a  fine 
avenue  of  trees  leading  to  the  mansion.  It  is  a  very  beautiful  place.  Mr. 
French  died  a  few  years  ago,  and  the  property  was  sold  to  a  Land  Association. 
The  house  was  built  by  Mr.  Swift. 

Opposite  is  the  late  Mr.  Rogers's  place.  He  was  President  of  the  Trades- 
mans'  Bank.  There  is  a  fine  hedge  here.  The  ample  and  elegant  mansion 
is  constructed  of  brown  stone.  The  widoAv  resides  in  it.  She  is  a  sister  of  the 
late  John  W.  Thomas,  of  Cheltenham.  There  is  a  fine  lawn  adorned  with 
shrubbery.  This  is  one  of  the  most  attractive  places  on  the  York  Road.  It 
is  on  what  was  formerly  the  James  Boyer  estate. 

Next  above  Mr.  French's  place  is  a  property  which  belonged  to  the 
Megargee  family.  A  stone  wall  runs  along  its  front.  The  house  is  a  beautiful 
mansion.  This  country-seat  will  draw  the  attention  of  the  passer-by,  as  an 
elegant  home,  with  a  deep  lawn,  as  the  house  stands  back  from  the  road, 
giving  pleasant  retirement. 


LU 


Q 


CO  g 

CO   S 
LU 


THE  YORK  ROAD. 
THE  JEWISH  HOSPITAL. 


55 


At  Tabor  Station  the  Jewish  Hospital  is  on  the  former  Megargee  property. 
It  is  a  very  fine,  large  and  costlj'^  building  surrounded  by  extensive  grounds. 
It  looks  like  a  cheerful  spot  for  a  sick  man's  recuperation,  and  the  Jews  deserve 
great  credit  for  the  benevolence  which  has  lavished  such  large  sums  to  benefit 
suff"ering  humanity. 

Thorp's  Lane  is  now  passed,  and  we  ride  by  the  second  toll-gate  which  is 
a  quaint  building.  The  keeper  of  these  gates  must  generally  make  the  most 
of  a  little  ground  squeezed  out  of  the  side  of  the  road,  and  his  garden,  if  he 
has  one,  is  scant. 

The  term  turnpike  which  is  now  applied  to  the  whole  road,  was  borrowed 
from  the  gate  itself,  and  widened  in  meaning. 

THE   JEWISH    HOSPITAL,    DISPENSARY    AND    HOME    FOR    THE 
AGED  AND  INFIRM  ISRAELITES. 

The  Jewish  Hospital  was  founded  in  February,  1865,  and  commenced 
work  in  a  small  building  at  o6th  Street  and  Haverford  Road,  West  Phila- 
delphia, where  it  remained  until  1873.  In  1872  the  erection  of  the  present 
Hospital  building  on  the  Olney  Road,  near  Old  York  Road  in  the  22d  Ward, 
was  commenced,'  finished  and  occupied  the  following  year.  Its  object  is  best 
shown  by  the  following  inscription  over  its  main  entrance : 


fl 


&l 


fe 


THIS   HOSPITAL 

WAS    ERECTED  BY   THE   VOLUNTARY   CONTRIBUTIONS  OF   THE 

ISRAELITES  OF  PHILADELPHIA, 

AND     IS     DEDICATED     TO    THE     RELIEF     OF     THE    SICK     AND 
WOUNDED, 

WITHOUT   REGARD   TO   CREED,   COLOR   OR   NATIONALITY, 

under  the  management  of  a  board  composed  of 

members  of  the 

Jewish  Hospital  Association. 


In  connection  with  its  Hospital  there  is  a  separate  building  known  as 
the  Mathilde  Adler  Loeb  Dispensary,  which  was  erected,  and  is  supported  by 
the  father  and  mother  and  husband  of  the  lady  commemorated,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Abraham  Adler,  and  Mr.  August  B.  Loeb.  It  also  has  two  incurable  wards 
for  male  and  female  patients  afflicted  with  consumption,  and  it  supports  on 


56  .  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

the  same  property  a  Home  for  Aged  and  Infirm  Israelites.  This  Home 
is  the  only  portion  of  the  Institution  which  is  of  a  sectarian  character. 

By  virtue  of  the  deed  of  trust  conveying  the  Dispensary  to  the  Associa- 
tion no  charge  can  be  made  for  advice,  treatment  or  medicines.  Last  year 
2,636  patients  were  thus  treated,  and  in  the  Hospital  proper  522  patients  were 
housed  and  cared  for.  The  statistics  of  the  Hospital  and  Home  show  that 
30,981  days'  support  were  furnished  to  the  patients  and  inmates  of  the  two 
Institutions  in  1891  at  a  cost  of  maintenance  $36,604.49,  all  of  which,  with 
the  exception  of  $652,70  received  from  board,  were  either  voluntary  donations, 
membership  dues,  or  interests  on  its  investments. 

The  Hospital  and  Dispensary  are  open  day  and  night  for  the  reception 
of  patients.     Its  beds  are  rarely  empty. 

Its  ambulance  is  always  ready  for  emergency  and  accident  cases,  and 
may  be  called  by  telephone  from  any  police  station  to  any  part  of  the  city. 
Its  two  physicians  in  charge,  Drs.  Knipe  and  Jarecki,  are  in  constant  attend- 
ance. Its  medical  and  surgical  staff  are  composed  of  Drs.  Thomas  G.  Morton, 
Benjamin  B.  Wilson,  Lewis  W.  Steinbach,  John  B.  Roberts,  William  H. 
Teller,  Charles  S.  Turnbull,  Owen  J.  Wister,  Thomas  Betts,  Adolph  Feldstein, 
S.  Solis  Cohen. 

In  consequence  of  the  constant  demands  on  this  Institution  the  expenses 
are  far  beyond  its  income ;  so  excellent  and  humane  a  work  ever  has  a  just 
demand  on  a  generous  public,  and  each  one  knows  not  how  soon  he  or  his 
friends  may  need  its  aid. 

The  Hospital  has  received  contributions  from  members  and  patrons  and 
a  number  of  legacies  from  citizens  of  Philadelphia  of  all  denominations,  and 
has  some  endowments,  prompted  by  love  to  God  and  man,  but  it  is  compelled 
to  solicit  more  to  supply  its  needs. 

This  is  the  29th  year  in  which  Mr.  Hackenburg  has  given  arduous  labor 
in  leading  this  good  work.     He  is  aided  by  the  following  fellow-officers : 

President,  William  B.  Hackenburg ;  Vice-President,  Simon  Muhr ;  Secre- 
tary, Simon  A.  Stern ;  Treasurer,  August  B.  Loeb ;  Corresponding  Secretary, 
Herman  Jonas. 

Directors :  Mayer  Sulzberger,  Abraham  Wolf,  Solomon  Gans,  Aaron 
Lichten,  Lucien  Moss,  Max  Liveright,  Simon  B.  Fleisher,  Simon  I.  Kohn, 
Herman  B.  Blumenthal,  Edward  Wolf,  Jacob  Wiener,  Arnold  Kohn. 

Ephraim  Lederer,  Clerk. 

THE  BUTLER  PLACE. 

There  is  an  elegant  avenue  of  trees  opening  on  Thorp's  Lane  at  the 
Butler  Place.  The  mansion,  which  is  stately  and  antique,  stands  back  from 
the  road,  and  a  wall  encircles  the  ample  grounds  in  English  fashion.  There 
is  a  double  piazza  on  the  lower  side  of  the  house. 

The  Episcopal  Church,  called  the  House  of  Prayer,  is  opposite  to  the  side 
of  this  property  a  short  distance  from  the  York  Road. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  59  > 

On  the  east  side  of  the  Butler  Place  is  the  Morton  farm.  Samuel  Morton's 
mansion  is  now  the  residence  of  his  widow. 

Above  the  Morton  place  the  Little  York  Farm  runs  from  the  York  Road 
to  the  North  Penn  Railroad.  It  was  a  part  of  Pierce  Butler's  place.  The 
Fern  Rock  Building  Association  is  now  in  possession  of  it. 

The  old  stone  house  looks  lonesome  at  the  roadside. 

A  daughter  of  Pierce  Butler  married  the  Honorable  and  Reverend  James 
Wentworth  Leigh,  of  England.  In  residing  here  for  a  time  Mr.  Leigh  has 
kindly  and  acceptably  performed  clerical  services  at  the  House  of  Prayer. 

Mrs.  Leigh  sold  the  property  to  Thomas  Smith,  President  of  the  Bank  of 
North  America.  After  his  death  it  was  sold  to  a  Land  Association  to  be  cut 
up  into  lots. 

The  following  sketch  is  kindly  communicated : 

The  quaint,  old  fashioned  country  house,  situated  on  the  west  side  of  the 
Old  York  Road,  north  of  Thorp's  Lane,  and  known  as  Butler  Place,  was  built 
in  the  year  1791  by  a  Frenchman,  named  Boullange  (almost  identical  with  a 
name  that  figures  conspicuously  in  the  French  politics  of  to-day),  and  passed 
into  the  possession  of  Major  Pierce  Butler,  of  Charleston,  S.  C,  in  1810.  The 
grounds  include  one  hundred  and  seven  acres,  and  have  an  extended  frontage 
on  Old  York  Road  on  the  east,  on  Thorp's  Lane  on  the  south,  and  on 
Branchtown  turnpike  on  the  west.  This  western  boundary  is  also  skirted  by 
Thorp's  dam — a  beautiful  sheet  of  water,  in  days  gone  by ;  now  a  melan- 
choly, marshy  meadow — the  breastwork  fallen,  the  mill-wheel  silenced,  and 
all  its  romantic  beauty  dispelled. 

The  property  is  now  owned  by  Major  Butler's  great-grand-daughters — Mrs. 
Owen  J.  Wister  and  Mrs.  James  Wentworth  Leigh.  Major  Butler  was  born  in 
Ireland  on  July  11th,  1744,  and  was  the  third  son  of  Sir  Richard  Butler  of 
Garryhunden  Co.,  fifth  baronet,  and  member  of  Parliament  for  Carlow, 
1729-61.  Sir  Richard  was  sixth  in  descent  from  Sir  Thomas  Pierce  Butler,  a 
descendant  of  Lord  Edmond  Butler,  second  son  of  the  ninth  Earl  of  Ormonde. 
Owing  to  his  father's  wealth  and  influence,  Major  Butler  held  a  commission, 
dated  Feb.  15th,  1755,  as  Lieutenant  in  the  Twenty-second  Foot,  before  he 
was  eleven  years  old,  though  he  did  not  enter  upon  the  duties  of  his  rank 
until  he  was  fifteen.  In  1761,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  he  became  Captain, 
and  April  20th,  1766,  he  became  Major  of  the  Twenty-ninth  Foot.  He  was 
for  some  years  stationed  in  America,  marrying  in  1768,  a  daughter  of  Col. 
Middleton,  of  Charleston,  S.  C.  In  1773  he  retired  from  the  army,  and  own- 
ing two  plantations,  in  Georgia — Butler  Island,  a  rice  plantation  of  2000 
acres,  and  St.  Simons,  a  sea-island  cotton  plantation  of  6000  acres — became  an 
extensive  planter. 

After  the  Revolution  Major  Butler  took  an  active  part  in  local  politics. 
He  was  twitted  by  his  adversaries  with  his  noble  birth ;  for  heredity,  rank  and 
position  were  not  held  in  high  esteem,  by  the  democracy  at  least,  of  a  country 
so  recently  emancipated  from  British  rule  and  form  of  government.     This 


60  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

antipathy  did  not  seem  materially  to  have  interfered  with  his  popularity, 
however,  for  on  March  0th,  1787,  he  was  appointed  a  delegate  to  the  Conti- 
nental Congress,  and  was  also  chosen  a  representative  to  the  Federal  Conven- 
tion ;  and,  furthermore,  he  was,  in  1789,  elected  one  of  the  first  United  States 
Senators  from  South  Carolina,  in  which  capacity  he  served  until  1796,  when 
he  resigned.  He  was  again  elected  in  1802.  He  was  a  ver}^  active  member 
of  the  Senate,  and  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Federal  Constitution  in  1787. 

Major  Butler  died  in  Philadelphia,  Feb.  15th,  1822,  set  78,  and  was 
buried  in  the  family  vault  at  Christ  Church. 

The  grounds  of  Butler  Place  are  undulating  and  picturesque.  One  of  its 
most  unique  and  attractive  features  is  the  beautiful  avenue  of  broad-spreading 
maple  trees,  whose  interlacing  branches  form  a  complete  archway,  casting  a 
deep  shade  over  the  drive  of  several  hundred  yards  from  Thorp's  Lane  to  the 
mansion.  The  Autumnal  coloring  of  these  trees  surpasses  anything  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Philadelphia,  and  elicits  the  admiration  of  all  whose  eyes 
may  rest  upon  it.  A  dell  on  the  same  lane  through  which  courses  a  babbling 
stream,  winding  round  the  foot  of  a  wooded  hill,  and  finding  its  way,  ulti- 
mately, into  Thorp's  dam  is  another  attraction,  which  is  much  enhanced  by 
being,  in  consequence  of  its  cool,  moist  air,  and  perfect  seclusion,  the  favorite 
haunt  of  the  wood  robin.     Here  its  plaintive,  melodious  note,  reminding  one 

Of  all  that  he  has  not,  and  never  can  have;  which  he  forever  seeks  and  never  finds, 
is  almost  unceasing,  even  in  the  noon-day  heats  of  mid-summer. 

An  old  fashioned,  walled  garden,  rare  in  this  country,  though  usually 
attached  to  venerable  country-houses  of  England,  may  also  be  found  on  the 
place,  where  figs,  and  other  semi-tropical  trees  flourish,  and  mature  their 
fruit  in  perfection,  defended  by  the  impenetrable  barrier  of  stone  from  the 
frowns  and  icy  blasts  of  stern  winter. 

The  unmistakable  evidences  of  age,  though  not  of  deca}-,  are  observable 
everywhere.  There  is  not  a  shadow  of  tinsel  or  tawdriness  to  be  found  about 
Butler  Place;  dignified  repose  being  its  predominant  characteristic.  Well 
may  its  occupants  exclaim  with  Horace, 

Ille  terrarum  mihi  praeter  omnes 
Angulus  ridet. 

BRANCHTOWN. 

We  now  approach  Branchtown.  A  quaint  old  tailor's  shop  on  the 
west  side  of  the  way  introduces  us  to  the  village. 

There  is  a  store  on  the  east  side  known  as  Rorer's  Store.  Mr.  Rorer  died 
and  his  son  relinquished  the  business.  Mr.  Mingin  now  has  this  place  of 
traffic,  which  has  been  modernized,  and  looks  well. 


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THE  YORK  ROAD.  63 

THE  DE  BENNEVILLE  GRAVE  YARD. 

The  de  Benneville  House  here  is  a  pleasant  and  striking  r*^mnant  of  older 
days,  while  the  de  Benneville  graveyard,  a  little  to  the  right  of  the  Old  York 
Road,  is  interesting  as  the  resting  place  of  those  who  were  leaders  in  their  day. 

The  following  article  by  E.  Leslie  Gilliams  appeared  in  The  Philadelphia 
Times  in  May,  A.  D.  1892 : 

"  Out  in  Branchtown,  at  the  northeast  corner  of  the  historic  Old  York 
Road  and  Green  Lane,  is  situated  the  de  Benneville  private  burying  ground, 
which  is  still  used,  and  is  one  of  the  largest  and  most  interesting  of  the 
various  family  graveyards  in  the  neighborhood  of  Philadelphia. 

'^In  1758  George  de  Benneville,  M.  D.,  purchased  from  Joseph  Spencer 
twenty  acres  of  land,  with  a  dwelling,  on  the  Old  York  Road.  Shortly  after 
de  Benneville  had  secured  this  valuable  property  he  selected  or  put  aside,  as 
was  the  custom  in  those  days,  a  plot  of  ground  for  a  family  burial  place.  His 
plot,  which  contained  about  a  quarter  of  an  acre,  fronted  on  the  Old  York 
Road,  and  extended  east  a  considerable  distance.  In  1795-6  Green  Lane  was 
opened  through  this  property,  which  decreased  the  width  of  the  burial  plot 
about  fifteen  feet,  making  the  frontage  on  the  Old  York  Road  exceedingly 
narrow.  Among  the  earliest  interments  in  the  de  Benneville  ground  were 
those  of  General  Agnew  and  Lieutenant  Colonel  Bird,  two  British  officers  of 
note,  who  were  killed  at  the  battle  of  Germantown,  according  to  tradition,  by 
two  men  secreted  behind  the  gravestones  in  the  Mennonite  meeting  yard,  on 
Main  Street,  above  Walnut  Lane,  They  were  at  first  buried  in  Germantown, 
but,  as  popular  feeling  was  very  bitter  against  the  British  invaders  after  the 
battle,  it  was  feared  that  indignities  would  be  offered  the  bodies,  and  they 
were  consequently  removed  to  the  de  Benneville  grounds  as  a  place  of  safety. 
According  to  the  statement  of  Mrs.  A.  de  Benneville  Mears,  the  graves  of 
General  Agnew  and  Lieutenant  Colonel  Bird  are  located  in  the  northeast 
corner  of  the  ground.  They  are  unmarked,  although,  years  ago,  a  great- 
uncle  and  aunt  of  General  Agnew  visited  this  country  and  desired  to  erect  a 
monument  to  the  General's  memory,  but  owing  to  some  trouble  which  they 
had  with  Aaron  Burr  they  failed  to  accomplish  their  purpose." 


A  little  to  the  south,  in  the  eastern  section  of  the  old  graveyard,  is  to  be 
found  the  tomb  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  George  de  Benneville,  the  most  distinguished 
member  of  his  family  and  the  founder  and  first  apostle  in  this  country  of  the 
gospel  of  universal  restoration.  Current  readers  of  ecclesiastical  history, 
particularly  in  New  England,  are  disposed  to  ascribe  the  honor  of  planting 
Universalism  in  America  to  the  Rev.  John  Murray,  a  Methodist  class  teacher, 
who  achieved  great  prominence  and  success  in  missionary  work  in  New 
England  during  the  Revolutionary  war.  But  Murray  did  not  land  on  the 
New  Jersey  shore  until  1770,  and  did  not  settle  in  Gloucester,  Mass.,  until 


64  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

1779 ;  whereas  Dr.  de  Benneville  came  from  Europe  as  early  as  1741,  and 
preached  the  new  doctrine  at  Oley,  eight  miles  northeast  of  Reading,  until 
1755,  and  subsequently  in  Germantown  and  Milestone  until  his  death  in 
1793.  Dr.  de  Benneville's  life  and  experience  were  more  thrilling  and 
romantic  than  a  novel.  His  mother  was  of  the  noble  Granville  family,  of 
England,  and  bore  nine  children  in  five  years  after  marriage,  having  twins 
four  years  successively.  At  de  Benneville's  birth,  the  26th  of  July,  1703,  she 
died.  His  father  was  a  French  refugee  attached  to  the  court  of  King  William 
III.  Tradition  says  that  after  the  death  of  young  de  Benneville's  mother 
Queen  Anne  herself  provided  him  with  a  nurse  and  superintended  his 
education. 

When  eleven  years  of  age  he  was  sent  to  sea  to  learn  navigation  in  a  war 
vessel  belonging  to  a  little  fleet  bound  for  the  coast  of  Barbary.  Shortly  after 
his  return  to  France  he  became  a  convert  to  the  doctrine  of  universal  salva- 
tion and  began  to  preach  Universalism.  For  this  he  was  arrested  and 
imprisoned.  Some  of  his  followers  and  companions  were  hanged,  but 
de  Benneville  escaped  this  fate  through  the  intervention  of  Queen  Anne.  He 
removed  to  Germany,  where  he  had  as  acquaintances,  "  a  company  of  gentry, 
who  dwelt  together  near  Siegen,  some  of  whom  were  married  but  only  dwelt 
together  as  brethren  and  sisters."  It  was  in  Holland  that  he  first  openly 
espoused  the  creed  of  Universalism.  In  1804  there  was  published  in  Phila- 
delphia a  little  volume  under  the  title  of  "A  true  and  remarkable  account  of 
the  life  and  trance  of  Doctor  George  de  Bennevile,  late  of  Germantown,  Pa., 
including  what  he  heard  and  saw  during  a  trance  of  forty-two  hours,  both  in 
the  regions  of  happiness  and  misery."  Dr.  de  Benneville  is  said  to  have 
experienced  this  trance  while  in  Holland,  in  which  country  he  was  attacked 
with  a  wasting  consumptive  disorder,  which  nearly  resulted  fatally.  Indeed^ 
at  one  time,  his  friends  thought  him  dead,  and  it  was  during  this  period  of 
forty-two  hours  that  he  is  said  to  have  experienced  his  remarkable  vision. 
His  descendants  of  to-day  rather  repudiate  this  trance,  or,  at  least,  claim  that 
it  has  been  greatly  exaggerated  in  importance. 


When  Dr.  de  Benneville  came  to  this  country,  and  settled  at  Oley,  in 
1741,  where  he  practiced  medicine,  he  was  received  most  cordially  by  the 
Moravians,  who  had  a  monastic  house  at  Bethlehem,  and  a  mission  school 
just  two  miles  from  the  Oley  line.  In  the  mission  school  de  Benneville 
preached  regularly,  until  growing  differences  of  creed  between  himself  and  the 
Moravians  eventually  led  them  to  close  their  doors  against  him.  That  was 
about  1745.  With  the  aid  of  Jean  Bertolet,  from  Picadie,  France,  whose 
daughter  he  had  recently  married,  de  Benneville  at  once  set  to  work  to  rear 
a  substantial  mansion,  wherein  he  could  preach  at  will.  This  building  is 
still  standing  and  is  practically  unchanged  in  appearance.  In  the  cellar  a 
spring  of  clear  water  gushes  from  a  rock  in  one  corner  and  it  was  here,  so 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  65 

tradition  says,  that  Dr.  de  Benneville  baptized  his  converts.  In  the  second 
story  of  •  his  house  he  constructed  a  hall  with  a  seating  capacity  of  fifty 
people.  And  here,  Sunday  after  Sunday,  he  preached  to  his  friends  and 
neighbors  the  doctrine  of  universal  salvation. 

In  1755,  on  account  of  the  increasing  outrages  of  wild  bands  of  Indians 
in  the  vicinity,  de  Benneville  left  Oley  and  settled  in  Germantown.  From 
that  time  on  his  time  was  evenly  divided  between  the  practice  of  medicine 
and  in  preaching.  And  it  was  his  custom,  until  prevented  by  extreme  old 
age,  to  perform  a  journey  twice  each  year  through  Pennsylvania,  Maryland 
and  Virginia,  preaching  to  the  weaker  churches,  for  he  cared  little  for 
distinctions  of  creed  and  moved  with  equal  ease  among  all  the  various 
denominations.  Dr.  de  Benneville  died  on  the  19th  of  March,  1793,  in  the 
90th  year  of  his  age.  The  remains  of  his  wife  repose  beside  those  of  her 
husband  in  the  family  plot. 

Dr.  de  Benneville  had  five  daughters  and  two  sons  and  numerous 
descendants  who  are  numbered  among  the  best  known  families  of  Philadel- 
phia. On  the  many  gravestones  in  the  little  cemetery  are  such  well-known 
names  as  de  Keim,  Showell,  Brown,  Mears,  Burkhart  and  Livingston.  A 
rather  curious  incident  in  connection  with  the  de  Benneville  ground  happened 
in  January,  1891,  when  a  burial  took  place  there,  at  which  time  a  walnut 
coffin  was  exposed  to  view  by  the  crumbling  of  two  inches  of  earth  across  the 
head  of  the  new  grave.  As  no  recorded  burial  had  taken  place  in  the  ground 
since  the  plot  was  laid  out  in  1758,  it  is  presumed  by  Mrs.  Mears  that  it  was 
part  of  a  former  plot  used  for  burial  purposes,  possibly  by  Joseph  Spencer, 
from  whom  Dr.  de  Benneville  purchased  the  land." 

I  append  to  the  article  of  Mr.  Gilliam  s  taken  from  his  series  on  Ancient 
Grave  Yards  in  The  Times,  a  notice  from  Watson's  Annals,  concerning  the 
Battle  of  Germantown  (Vol.  II,  pages  48,  49) :  "  A  great  deal  of  fighting  must 
have  occurred  in  Joseph  Megargee's  field  near  Branchtown  (probably  with 
Stephens'  division,)  ascertained  from  the  great  number  of  leaden  bullets  found 
in  his  ten  acre  field,  for  years  afterwards.  Stephens  himself  had  been  set 
aside  some  time  before  by  his  own  officers,  as  too  much  inebriated  to  com- 
mand.    This  was  told  me  by  one  of  his  captains." 

"  The  present  Dr.  George  de  Benneville,  of  Branchtown,  now  aged  83 
years,  was  a  lad  of  sixteen,  at  the  time  of  the  battle  of  Germantown,  and  saw 
much  of  the  fight,  and  of  the  preceding  and  succeeding  operations  of  the  two 
armies.  They  had  the  Highlanders  and  British  cavalry  quartered  in  his 
neighborhood.  They  were  always  cheerful  and  always  seemed  to  go  gaily 
and  confidently  into  expected  fights.  On  such  occasions  the  kilted  Scots 
went  off  in  full  trot,  keeping  up  with  the  trot  of  the  cavalry.  The  soldiers 
made  free  to  take  and  kill  the  cows  of  his  family,  and  their  neighbors ;  but 
the  officers  were  gentlemanly  in  their  deportment  and  seemed  to  try  to  put 
them  in  a  way  to  get  some  recompense.  Several  of  the  British  officers  were 
quartered  in  Thomas  Nedrow's  house,  the  same,  now  Butler's  house,  opposite 
5 


66  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

to  the  residence  of  the  present  Pierce  Butler.  When  the  battle  came  on,  the 
British  made  a  barricade  across  the  York  Road  at  the  place  of  these  two 
houses.  Our  militia,  in  the  time  of  the  battle,  made  no  stand  of  resistance  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Branchtown,  but  seemed  quickly  to  make  their  retreat ; 
and  for  this  non-defence,  as  many  of  them  were  known  in  the  neighborhood, 
they  did  not  fail  afterwards,  to  receive  the  jibes  and  jeers  of  the  people.  They 
accused  them  of  throwing  away  their  cartridges,  as  a  feint  of  having 
exhausted  them  in  fight !  " 

"  Dr.  de  Benneville  saw  the  British  armj'  come  down  the  York  Road,  on 
their  return  and  defeat,  after  they  had  had  their  affair  at  Edge  Hill,  where 
Gen.  Morgan,  with  his  riflemen,  had  so  ably  discomfited  them.  The  British 
still  looked  well,  and  as  if  able  to  make  a  bold  stand,  if  pressed  to  it.  The 
doctor  has  described  to  me,  with  lively  vivacity,  his  vivid  recollections  of 
those  days,  and  says  they  were  daily  of  the  most  stirring  interest  to  him,  and 
others  in  his  neighborhood.  They  kept  them  daily  excited,  and  interested  in 
everything  doing  around  them-;  and  almost  ever}^  day  brought  something 
new  to  pass,  which  in  some  way  or  other,  might  engage  the  feelings,  or  the 
wonder,  of  himself,  and  his  youthful  companions.  Such  recollections,  to  their 
possessors,  at  least,  are  even  now  felt  to  be  worth  a  whole  age  of  lesser  years !  " 

Tennyson  in  "  Locksley  Hall "  agrees  with  this  sentiment  of  Watson  in 
the  line : 

"  Better  fifty  years  of  Europe  than  a  cycle  of  Cathay." 

Cathay  was  the  name  of  China  and  Eastern  Tartary,  and  while  we  may 
gladly  miss  the  stimulus  of  war  we  live  in  the  energy  of  modern  life,  while 
the  ancients  seemed  to  have  a  slow  existence. 

Medary's  store  is  on  the  west  side  of  the  road,  and  Clayton's  tavern  is  at 
the  junction  of  Mill  Street,  or  Lime  Kiln  Pike  and  the  Old  York  Road. 

Dr.  Mears'  house  is  on  the  east  side  of  the  road. 

The  Dr.  de  Benneville  house  at  the  corner  of  York  Road  and  Oak  Lane 
is  the  residence  of  Mrs.  Anne  de  Benneville  Mears  who  has  written  a  valuable 
book  on  the  early  history  of  this  region  entitled  "  The  Old  York  Road  and 
Its  Associations." 

THE  HOUSE  OF  PRAYER,  BRANCHTOWN. 

Rev.  George  Bringhurst,  Rector. 

Communicated. 

The  first  church  services  held  near  Branchtown,  so  far  as  can  be  ascer- 
tained, were  by  the  Rev.  George  Sheets,  while  Rector  of  Trinity  Church, 
Oxford.  These  were  in  the  old  School  House  on  Oak  Lane.  In  1858  the 
Rev.  Benjamin  Wistar  Morris,  assistant  minister  of  St.  Luke's  Church, 
Germantown,  established  a  Mission  there — a  Sunday  School  having  been 
previously  organized  by  Mrs.  Anne  de  Benneville  Mears.  Occasional  services 
were  held  by  the  neighboring  clergy.     On  November  25th,  1860  the  Rev. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  67 

Thomas  Gardiner  Littell,  assistant  to  the  Rector  of  St.  Michaels,  German- 
town,  officiated  for  the  first  time,  as  Missionary-in-Charge.  December  28th 
the  Parish  was  organized  under  the  name  of  the  House  of  Prayer,  and  Rev. 
T.  G.  Littell  was  elected  Rector  in  1861.  The  first  infant  baptism  was  on 
Feb.  17th,  1861 ;  first  adult  baptism,  March  31st,  1861 ;  first  celebration  of 
the  Holy  Communion.  On  the  28th  of  August,  1862,  ground  was  broken  for 
the  church  building.  A  large  lot  was  donated  by  Mrs.  Anne  de  Benneville 
Mears.  On  Sept.  3rd,  1862  the  corner-stone  was  laid  by  the  Rev.  B.  W. 
Morris.  Present,  Rev.  Messrs.  Buchanan,  Clemson,  Coleman,  Conrad,  Davis, 
Harris,  Barker,  Parvin,  Hotchkin,  Rodney,  L.  W.  Smith  and  the  Rector. 
The  plans  for  the  building  were  contributed  by  Mr.  Emlen  Littell,  a  cousin 
of  the  Rector.  The  church  was  consecrated  July  12, 1863,  by  Bishop  Stevens, 
twenty-three  other  clergy  present. 

Rectors  of  the  "  House  of  Prayer  "  : 

T.  Gardiner  Littell  from  1861-1865. 

R.N.Thomas  "      1868-1869. 

C.D.Allen  ''      1866-1868. 

A.  T.  McMurphy        "      1869-1873. 

W.  R.  Jenney  "      1873-1874. 

W.Wells      "  "      1874-1875. 

G.  Bringhurst,  Oct.  1875  to  the  present  time. 

I  would  add  to  these  notes  that  Bishop  Morris,  of  Oregon,  though  he  had 
much  work  in  St.  Luke's  Parish,  Germantown,  deserves  honorable  mention 
for  his  interest  in  this  new  mission. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  T.  G.  Littell  toiled  hard  in  the  constructing  of  the  church, 
and  his  friends  aided  the  eff()rt.  After  founding  this  parish  in  faith  joined 
with  works,  he  took  charge  of  Christ  Church,  Dover,  Delaware,  and  afterward 
became  the  Rector  of  St.  John's  Church,  Wilmington,  Delaware,  where  his 
25th  anniversary  was  lately  celebrated  with  much  affection  by  his  loving  flock. 

The  House  of  Prayer,  Branchtown,  at  the  corner  of  Limekiln  Pike  and 
Mill  Street,  has  a  stone  parish  building,  which  contains  Sunday  School  Rooms 
as  well  as  Infant  and  Bible  Class  Rooms.  The  church  and  parish  building 
are  good  edifices,  surrounded  by  ample  grounds,  and  make  a  pretty  feature  in 
the  landscape  to  attract  the  passer-by. 

The  beautiful  monument  in  the  churchyard  in  memory  of  the  wife  and 
sons  of  Clement  Biddle  Barclay  is  a  noteworthy  object  and  adds  to  the  beauty 
of  the  sacred  enclosure. 

The  rectorship  of  Mr.  Bringhurst  has  been  a  long  and  faithful  one. 

Watson  relates  the  following  Revolutionary  incident,  (Annals,  Vol.  2, 
page  51,)  "  Sundry  of  the  whig  persons  engaged  with  the  army  used  to  make 
occasionally  hazardous  excursions  to  visit  their  families  stealthil}^  by  night, 
&c.  On  one  occasion,  Mr.  Denny,  who  was  a  militia  lieutenant,  came  to  his 
father's,  near  the  market  house,  (in  Germantown,)  and  when  going  away  on 
horseback  at  midnight,  he  chanced,  as  he  was  intending  to  turn  into  the 


68  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

church  lane,  to  encounter  the  advance  of  a  secret  silent  detachment  going 
against  La  Fayette  at  Barren  hill.  As  he  whipped  up  to  turn  the  corner, 
they  let  fly  a  platoon,  a  ball  from  which,  passed  through  his  thigh,  scarcely 
making  him  sensible  of  a  wound,  for  he  actually  got  over  to  the  Branchtown 
tavern  before  he  stopped.  Such  an  alarm  at  midnight  soon  startled  the 
whole  town,  and  rapidly  brought  up  the  whole  force  of  the  expedition,  at  the 
same  time  breaking  the  intended  secrecy." 

Let  us  thank  God  that  Germantown  is  not  thus  rudely  startled  from  its 
slumbers  now,  and  that  Branchtown  sees  no  such  wounded  riders  at  night. 

"  Opposite  to  the  seat  of  Pierce  Butler,  Esq.,  on  the  Old  York  Road,  a 
barricade  was  erected  at  the  time  of  the  battle,  of  Germantown."  (German- 
town  Battle  Ground,  By  Chas.  J.  Peterson.)  Graham's  Magazine,  (Vol.  25,  p. 
22.  See  also  (p.  17)  Smallwood's  (American)  militia  reached  Branchtown,  but 
*'  made  no  stand,"  (p.  20.)  The  British  "  troops  lay  in  force  behind  School-  • 
House  Lane,  extending  on  the  left  to  the  Schuylkill,  while  parties  were  pushed 
to  the  right  as  far  as  the  Old  York  Road,"  (p.  17.) 

"  In  Russell  Smith's  woods  in  Branchtown,  were  lately  taken  up  the 
remains  of  three  American  soldiers,  buried  there,  and  reinterred  by  him  with 
a  head  stone ;  part  of  their  clothes  and  caps  still  remained,  also  their  buttons 
and  flints.  They  were  there  as  an  advance  picket  guard,  and  were  sur- 
prised."  This  was  on  Joseph  Wharton's  place.   (Watson's  Annals  Vol.  1,  p.  50.) 

OAK    LANE. 

"  Romantic  scenes  of  pendant  hills, 
And  verdant  vales  and  falling  rills."  ' 

Thus  does  the  English  poet  Shenstone  describe  Leasowes,  his  own  pictur- 
esque home,  the  country  place  which  fired  the  heart  of  Walter  Scott  to  work 
out  his  beautiful  and  artistic  seat  at  Abbotsford,  which  cost  him  such 
laborious  toil  of  brain  in  striving  to  meet  its  vast  expense.  In  Hugh'  Miller's 
First  Impressions  of  England,  may  be  found  an  account  of  the  fine  landscape 
gardening  of  Shenstone.     (Pages  172,  etc.) 

The  suburbs  of  our  American  cities  are  fast  rivaling  the  work  of  English 
gardeners,  and,  if  many  cannot  have  the  wide  stretch  of  park  and  woodland 
which  the  English  nobility  control,  they  can  at  least  find  room  and  light  and 
air,  a  modest  lawn,  and  shade  trees;  and  the  surrounding  country  affords 
delightful  drives  where  it  ought  to  be  a  pleasure  to  reflect  that  all  the  children 
of  God  can  look  on  his  handiwork,  instead  of  the  favored  few. 

In  the  last  few  years  architecture  has  done  much  to  adorn  the  country 
districts,  and  many  a  pretty  picture  in  wood  or  stone  houses  greets  the  eye  of 
the  walker  or  rider.  While  the  London  architects  Inigo  Jones,  Sir  Christo- 
pher Wren,  and  Sir  Charles  Barry  may  be  wanting,  many  a  designer  in  this 
country  has  planned,  and  many  a  builder  executed  the  construction  of  houses 
which  far  exceed  in  comfort  and  use  the  stately  castle,  or  the  baronial  hall. 


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THE  YORK  ROAD.  71 

The  homes  of  Philadelphia  and  its  suburbs  may  well  be  noted,  for  it  is 
properly  styled,  "  the  city  of  homes." 

There  may  be  some  houses  which  answer  the  burlesque  poetic  description : 

"  All  up  and  down,  and  here  and  there, 
With  none  know  what  of  round  and  square, 
Stuck  on  at  random  everywhere; 
Indeed  a  house  to  make  one  stare. 
All  corners  and  all  gables." 

But  Hawthorne's  "  House  with  the  Seven  Gables  "  did  not  stand  among 
the  pretty  and  comfortable  cottages  of  Oak  Lane.  The  modern  house  has  a 
pleasant  light  in  parlor,  chamber  and  hall,  Boyd,  the  Scotch  divine,  in  his 
"  Recreations  of  a  Country  Parson,"  (pp.  162,  163,)  quotes  George  Gilbert 
Scott's  "  Secular  and  Domestic  Architecture "  as  follows,  concerning  "  the 
ordinary  villa " :  "  Its  characteristics  should  be  quiet  cheerfulness  and 
unpretending  comfort;  it  should  both  within  and  without,  be  the  very 
embodiment  of  innocent  and  simple  enjoyment.  No  foolish  affectation  of 
rusticity,  but  the  reality  of  everything  which  tends  to  the  appreciation  of 
country  pleasures,  in  their  more  refined  form.  The  external  design  should 
so  unite  with  the  natural  objects  around  that  they  should  appear  necessary 
to  one  another,  and  that  neither  could  be  very  different  without  the  other 
sufTering.  The  interior  should  bear  no  resemblance  to  the  formality  of  a 
town  house.  In  most  situations  the  house  should  spread  wide  rather  than 
run  up  high ;  but  circumstances  may  vary  this." 

Let  me  add  that  as  to  color  and  surroundings  a  house  should  not  startle 
the  beholder,  but  should  fit  into  the  scenery  as  if  it  grew  there,  and  the  trees 
and  shrubbery  should  have  a  sort  of  natural  variety  rather  than  a  studied 
uniformity,  while  the  curve  should  be  followed  as  the  line  of  beauty,  as  in  the 
works  of  God  in  sea  and  sky  and  landscape.  A  certain  amount  of  fancy  may 
have  play  in  arbors  and  summer-houses,  such  as  the  antique  one  at  the 
Womrath  place  in  Frankford.  As  to  the  house  itself  it  was  a  pretty  idea  of 
Henry  Ward  Beecher  that  as  each  child  came  into  the  family  a  room  might 
be  added,  thus  the  house  would  become  a  household  chronicle. 

T.  Henry  Asbury,  the  head  of  the  Enterprise  Manufacturing  Company, 
deserves  great  credit  for  having  erected  many  beautiful  homes  at  Oak  Lane. 
If  he  who  makes  two  blades  of  grass  grow  where  one  stood  alone  is  a  bene- 
factor, so  is  he  who  multiplies  cosy  and  healthful  residences  as  things  of 
beauty  and  constant  joys.  The  vicinity  of  Oak  Lane  has  been  made  a  place 
of  beauty  and  attractiveness.  Mr.  Asbury  found  the  section  almost  an  unculti- 
vated waste,  and  has  so  exercised  his  taste  and  judgment  that  all  are  grati- 
fied with  the  present  condition  of  things.  He  has  constructed  many  archi- 
tectural cottages ;  and  has  studied  the  art  of  building  in  order  to  make  them, 
as  convenient  and  comfortable  as  possible ;  and  has  been  ready  to  assist  the 
new  comer  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  the  purchase  of  his  own  home  a 


72  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

comparatively  easy  matter ;  and  in  a  republic  those  who  own  their  abodes 
make  good  citizens,  as  feeling  an  interest  in  their  surroundings. 

Mr.  Asbury's  own  residence  stands  on  a  pleasant  eminence  where  the 
railw'ay  trains,  with  their  living  freight,  may  constantly  be  seen  passing 
below.     The  sloping  lawn  may  recall  the  lines  in  Cowper's  Task : 

"  Whose  well  rolled  walks 
"With  curvature  of  slow  and  easy  sweep" 

enliven  the  landscape. 

The  dwelling  of  stone  is  elegant  and  commodious,  with  comfortable 
piazza  to  tempt  the  summer  breeze  and  incite  one  to  enjoy  the  open  air  as 
nature's  own  refreshment  from  the  open  hand  of  God.  The  name  of  this 
country  place  is  Mestha,  formed  of  the  initials  of  its  owner  and  his  wife,  Mary 
E.  Swann  and  T.  Henry  Asbury. 

At  the  foot  of  the  lawn  a  pretty  lake  diversifies  the  scene.  The  Hebrews 
called  the  fountain  an  eye,  and  so  water  vivifies  a  landscape,  as  the  eye  does 
the  face.  Willows  skirt  the  w^ater  as  they  grew  "  by  the  watercourses"  in 
Isaiah's  day.  Isaiah  44,  4.  Striking  stone  arches  uphold  the  railway  bridge 
where  City  Line  Road  passes  under  the  railway.  There  are  two  arches  one 
for  the  road  and  the  other  for  a  stream  of  water  with  its  picturesque  little 
dam.  The  arches  form  the  frame  work  of  pictures  as  one  looks  through  them 
and  sees  the  houses  beyond  on  the  hillside  with  their  porches  and  dormer 
windows. 

Harry  E.  Asbur}'-,  the  son  of  T.  Henry  Asbury,  has  a  stone  house  with  a 
pleasant  veranda  and  pretty  slated  gables.  The  building  stands  on  a  knoll, 
and  is  picturesq\le.  It  is  a  truly  cosy  and  ideal  home.  A  natural  terrace, 
with  a  rustic  wooden  bridge  ornamented  with  vines  forms  a  w^alk  over  one 
portion  of  the  grounds.  It  is  illumined  at  night  by  electric  lights.  This  is 
in  Cheltenham  township.  There  is  a  wall  running  along  Mill  Road.  The 
hall  is  cheerful,  and  the  stairway  rises  from  it.  The  woodwork  shows  its 
natural  veins.  The  dining  room  mantel,  and  the  inlaid  wooden  floor  are  pretty. 
The  house  fronts  the  railway  and  makes  a  pleasing  impression  for  the 
traveller.  The  chimney  with  its  terra  cotta  ornamentation  is  on  the  upper 
corner,  while  a  picturesque  balcony  reminds  one  of  Romeo  and  Juliet. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Nathaniel  H.  Rand  reside  in  another  stone  cottage,  which 
has  its  own  knoll  above  the  lake.  Mrs.  Rand  is  a  daughter  of  T.  Henry 
Asbury.  The  stone  foundations  of  the  pillars  of  the  porch  here  have  a  pretty 
effect.  The  lattice  M'oodwork  in  the  upper  part  of  the  piazza,  and  the  well 
lighted  porch  and  bright  rooms  give  a  cheerful  air. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gadbury,  and  Mrs.  S.  A.  Harmer  reside  with  T.  Henry 
Asbury,  who  is  the  father  of  these  ladies.  As  he  loves  to  gather  his  children 
around  the  paternal  nest,  another  house  is  being  erected  for  another  son, 
Charles  "W.  Asbury.  A  semi-circular  towerlike  projection  on  the  upper  side 
gives  it  a  striking  appearance.     A  little  rustic  bridge  near  by  leads  from 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  73 

Lakeside  Avenue  to  Asbury  Terrace,  which  is  a  natural  elevation.  A  beauti- 
ful wall  bounds  Lakeside  Avenue.  The  rocks  strewn  carelessly  by  workmen 
along  the  railway  bank,  above  the  lake,  add  to  the  beauty  of  these  fine 
,  situations. 

T.  Henry  Asbury  rented  a  small  cottage  near  Oak  Lane  Station  for  a 
summer  home  when  he  first  came  to  this  region,  and  in  fourteen  years  has 
made  the  wonderful  changes  now  visible.  He  owns  over  one  hundred  acres 
of  land  and  many  cottages.  He  is  the  grandnephew  of  Bishop  Asbury,  and 
has  shown  himself  a  benefactor  to  the  community,  though  in  a  different  mode 
from  that  of  his  relative.  His  pleasant  garden,  with  its  hedge  and  a  deer  in 
its  enclosed  yard  near  the  stone  stable,  may  give  gratification  to  the  owner, 
but  he  has  also  sought  the  gratification  of  the  public.  The  stone  wall  that 
skirts  the  lake,  and  Melrose  Hall,  and  the  summer-house,  the  roof  of  which  is 
supported  by  pillars  of  stone  work  give  pleasure  to  all.  The  houses  built  by 
this  energetic  man,  under  the  guidance  of  the  architect,  Amos  J.  Boyden,  of 
Philadelphia,  are  generally  single  houses,  though  a  few  twin  houses  have 
been  built.  They  are  mostly  of  stone.  They  have  space  around  them  for 
light,  air,  yards  and  gardens. 

Melrose  Station  above  Oak  Lane  is  on  Mr.  Asbury's  tract,  so  that  it 
extends  between  two  stations  on  the  North  Penn  Rail  Road.  Mr.  Henry 
Miller  has  erected  a  very  pretty  cottage  of  stone  and  wood  opposite  Melrose 
Station,  and  the  neat  cottage  of  J.  W.  Earle  is  just  below  it.  Asbury  Avenue 
is  a  nice  new  street,  and  contains  the  houses  of  E.  P.  Noll  and  George  Chap- 
man. The  Melrose  Athletic  Association  has  the  use  of  over  six  acres  of 
ground  by  Mr.  iVsbury's  kind  arrangement.  They  have  a  club  house  here. 
The  street  improvements  have  cost  much,  and  reflect  credit  on  the  founder 
of  the  place.  The  soil  is  not  muddy.  Young  hedges  await  the  perfection  of 
future  beauty.  George  H.  Sheble  occupies  one  of  the  pretty  cottages  at 
Melrose.  There  are  bewildering  clusters  of  neat  cottages  forbidding  descrip- 
tion by  their  number. 

Coventry  Avenue  is  macadamized.  An  old  powder  mill  which  did 
service  in  the  Revolution  is  on  this  avenue.  It  is  on  the  Rorer  farm,  and  the 
ancient  Rorer  farmhouse  still  stands.  It  is  occupied  by  some  Italians.  Mr. 
Asbury  bought  this  property  from  the  Rorer  estate.  The  mill  race  can  still 
be  traced  where  the  water  power  was  conveyed  which  worked  the  powder  mill. 

Lister's  Spring  with  its  flow  of  water  is  a  pretty  feature  by  the  wayside 
near  the  railway.  As  God  gives  the  water  freely,  good  men  try  to  dispense  it 
cheerfully.  Thomas  Lister,  a  Clerk  of  the  Court  of  Quarter  Sessions,  arranged 
the  spring  for  the  use  of  the  public,  and  the  letters  "  T.  L."  cut  in  stone  yet 
mark  his  good  work,  though  he  is  dead.  The  date  1876  gives  the  time  when 
the  gushing  water  was  thus  utilized,  and  now  a  more  elaborate  stone  front  is 
to  be  placed  here  by  the  one  whose  improvements  have  been  so  often  men- 
tioned in  this  connection.  This  gentleman  has  had  five  artesian  wells  sunk 
at  Oak  Lane.     One  of  them  is  over  three  hundred  feet  deep,  and  it  supplies 


74  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

the  houses  with  fine  pure  water.     It  is  driven  by  a  water  wheel  which  has  its 
house  in  which  to  do  its  constant  work  of  beneficence. 

A  Thomson  &  Houston  incorporated  company's  electric  light  plant,  near 
the  railway,  is  driven  by  a  Green  engine  of  175  horse  power. 

THE  OAKS. 

This  is  the  name  of  the  very  large  and  elegant  mansion  of  Mrs.  Sharpless, 
the  widow  of  Charles  Sharpless.  There  is  a  large  estate  of  well  kept  land. 
The  house  is  of  gray  stone.  The  circular  ends  and  piazzas  and  dormer 
windows  give  it  a  picturesque  air,  as  it  stands  back  from  the  road  with  its 
pleasant  lawn  in  front.  Joseph  Rorer,  son  of  Benjamin  Rorer  once  owned 
this  place. 

Thomas  Mott,  the  son  of  Lucretia  Mott,  so  well  known  throughout  this 
country,  built  this  house.  The  late  Charles  Sharpless,  the  father  of  Harry 
Sharpless,  purchased  it.  The  landed  property  is  varied  by  woods  and  enclosed 
by  a  neat  stone  wall  which  gives  a  pleasing  effect  to  the  front  view. 

Mr.  Charles  Sharpless  was  at  the  head  of  the  firm  of  Sharpless  &  Brothers 
at  8th  and  Chestnut  Streets. 

This  place  has  the  appearance  of  a  park,  with  its  fine  grounds  and  lovely 
trees  and  ha-ha  walls.  Here  the  late  Mr.  Sharpless  had  his  herd  of  choice 
Alderney  cattle,  and  his  excellent  stock  of  horses.  This  is  one  of  the  finest 
properties  in  the  neighborhood  extending  along  City  Line  to  the  Old  York 
Road,  opposite  the  side  of  the  City  Line  Tavern. 

THE  MILESTOWN  BAPTIST  CHURCH. 

The  Reverend  L.  H.  Copeland,  the  present  pastor  of  this  church,  has 
kindly  given  me  notes  which  will  furnish  a  brief  sketch  of  its  history.  The 
building  is  located  on  the  corner  of  Oak  Lane  and  City  Line  Roads.  It  is  of 
stone,  roughcast.  The  City  Line  Road  runs  by  the  church  to  York  Road. 
A  graveyard  with  its  sacred  memories  adjoins  the  church.  The  property  con- 
tains an  acre  and  a  half  of  land  given  to  God  for  the  use  of  Christian  worship 
by  the  pious  liberality  of  David  Rorer,  senior.  The  conditions  of  the  gift 
were  that  the  ground  should  be  used  for  the  church,  and  horse-sheds,  and  a 
graveyard.  This  parish  was  a  branch  of  the  Frankford  Baptist  Church, 
The  church  was  organized  in  A,  D.,  1833,  and  this  was  the  only  church 
building  in  a  district  of  tliree  miles,  though  the  Methodist  Church,  which  was 
organized  in  1831,  erected  a  building  in  1834.  The  church  was  named  the 
Union  Baptist  Church  of  Milestown,  The  edifice  was  rebuilt  in  1858  and 
thoroughly  repaired  in  1888,  "  so  that  it  is  one  of  the  most  lovely  and  beautiful 
this  side  of  the  city  proper."  *'  The  church  is  the  mother  of  the  First  Baptist 
Church,  Germantown,  and  of  the  First  Baptist  Church  at  Jenkintown."  The 
improvement  of  the  neighborhood  has  helped  the  parish  financially  and 
spiritually,  and  its  future  is  bright. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  75 

The  first  pastor  was  Rev.  Robert  Young.  The  following  w-ere  his  suc- 
cessors :  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Levi  Beck,  William  T.  Hall,  William  Collum,  0.  J. 

Gage,   John   M.   Lyons, Wilson,    William   Swinden,   J.   M.   Richards, 

A.  Danforth,  E.  D.  Stager,  Josiah  Phillips  (whose  pastorate  was  the  longest), 
Charles  Warwick  (now  at  Bustleton),  C.  C.  Earle,  David  Landis,  and  L.  H. 
Copeland. 

NAME  OF  OAK  LANE. 

^'  Hall  W.  Mercer  gave  the  name  to  Oak  Lane  in  honor  of  an  ancient  oak 
which  grew  near  the  farm  house,  and  for  which  he  had  a  great  veneration. 
For  several  years  it  showed  signs  of  decay ;  these  he  watched  with  care,  and 
as  each  opening  came  to  view,  he  had  them  carefully  covered  with  plaster  to 
protect  from  the  weather,  but  at  last,  after  he  had  passed  away,  the  old  tree 
bent  its  stately  form  to  the  winter  blast,  and  lay  prostrate  on  the  ground." 

The  above  note  from  Mrs.  Mears  accounts  for  the  rustic  name  of  this 
pretty  suburb.  Tennyson's  "  Talking  Oak  "  has  some  lines  which  we  quote 
as  applicable  to  the  old  tree  in  the  lover's  conversation  with  its  English 
relative. 

"  Beyond  the  lodge  the  city  lies, 
Beneath  its  drift  of  smoke ; 
And  ah  !  with  what  delighted  eyes 
I  turn  to  vender  oak." 


'  Say  thou,  whereon  I  carved  her  name, 

If  ever  maid  or  spouse. 
As  fair  as  my  Olivia  came 

To  rest  beneath  thy  boughs." 


"  And  I  will  work  in  prose  and  rhyme, 
And  praise  thee  more  in  both 
Than  bard  has  honour'd  beech  or  lime, 
Of  that  Thessalian  growth  ; 

In  which  the  swarthy  ringdove  sat. 

And  mystic  sentence  spoke ; 
And  more  than  England  honours  that, 

Thy  famous  brother  oak, 

/ 

Wherein  the  younger  Charles  abode 

Till  all  the  paths  were  dim. 
And  far  below  the  Roundhead  rode. 

And  hummed  a  surly  hymn." 

Southey  in  his  poem  "  The  Oak  of  Our  Fathers  "  wails  the  fall  of  such  a 
tree  killed  by  the  clinging  ivy  : 


76  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

"  Alas  for  the  Oak  of  our  Fathers  that  stood 

In  its  beauty,  the  glory  and  pride  of  the  wood ! 

********* 

The  branches  grew  sickly,  deprived  of  their  food, 
And  the  Oak  was  no  longer  the  pride  of  the  wood. 

The  foresters  saw  and  they  gathered  around ; 
The  roots  still  were  fast,  and  the  heart  still  was  sound, 
They  lopp'd  off  the  boughs  that  so  beautifully  spread, 
But  the  ivy  they  spared  on  its  vitals  that  fed. 

No  longer  the  bees  o'er  its  honey  dews  play'd. 
Nor  the  beasts  of  the  forest  fed  under  its  shade ; 
Lopp'd  and  mangled  the  trunk  in  its  ruin  is  seen, 
A  monument  now  what  its  beauty  has  been." 

But  instead  of  death  we  will  now  speak  of  life  in  the  history  of 
ST.  MARTIN'S  CHURCH,  OAK  LANE. 

This  beautiful  and  architectural  building  is  constructed  of  stone,  and  its 
high  location  on  Oak  Lane  amidst  attractive  scenery  make  it  a  delightful 
spot.  There  is  a  recess  chancel,  containing  a  window  representing  the  Ascen- 
sion of  Our  Lord.  The  building  is  lighted  by  electricity.  The  woodwork  is 
beautifully  displayed  in  the  roof  of  the  church  and  chancel.  There  is  a  cler- 
estory and  the  windows  are  Gothic.  A  brass  lecturn  and  a  worthy  altar  adorn 
the  chancel. 

The  following  notice  is  from  The  Philadelphia  Inquirer  of  November  7th, 
A.  D.,  1889 : 

NEW  CHURCH  AT  OAK  LANE. 

Oak  Lane  is  to  have  a  new  church,  and  it  is  to  be  called  St.  Martin's. 
Many  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  pretty  suburb  belong  to  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church,  and  in  order  to  attend  are  obliged  either  to  go  to  Branchtown 
or  to  St.  Paul's,  at  Ogontz.  In  the  early  part  of  1887  a  number  of  the  resi- 
dents came  together  to  see  what  could  be  done  to  establish  a  church  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood,  and  at  the  first  meeting  held  in  September  of  that 
year,  the  idea  was  formulated,  and  at  the  seventh  meeting  the  congrega- 
tion was  formed  and  Rev..  E.  H.  Supplee  was  chosen  minister. 

Harrison  Albright,  the  architect,  was  instructed  to  commence  work  on  the 
plans  for  the  new  building  at  once.  The  church  is  in  the  Convocation  of 
Germantown.  The  Vestry  Committee  consists  of  Dr.  Thomas  Betts,  Clinton 
M.  Latourette,  Thomas  M.  Baines,  Henry  Marot  and  Samuel  Millward ;  Dr. 
Supplee  and  T.  Henry  Asbury,  Advisory  Committee. 

The  new  edifice  is  to  be  located  at  Oak  Lane  and  Moss  Streets.  Native 
gray  stone,  surmounted  by  a  red  slate  roof,  having  copper  crestings,  will  be 
used.     The  plan  of  the  church  is  of  a  cruciform  shape  and  the  style  of  archi- 


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THE  YORK  ROAD.  79 

lecture,  early  English  gothic.  The  design  shows  careful  study,  complete  equi- 
poise and  rugged  strength. 

On  Oak  Lane  the  building  will  extend  50  feet  and  on  Moss  Street  110 
feet.  The  cloisters  are  16x11  feet,  vestibule  and  the  guild  room  11x11  feet. 
The  nave  is  67x32  feet.  From  the  vestibule  access  may  be  had  to  the  nave, 
Sunday  school  room  and  guild  room.  The  organ,  choir  chamber,  vestry  and 
robing  rooms  are  all  well  arranged. 

Two  steps  lead  to  the  chancel  and  one  step  from  the  chancel  to  the 
sanctuary,  where  the  altar  will  stand  on  its  platform  of  three  steps.  A  lofty 
rood  screen  is  to  be  placed  under  the  chancel  arch.  The  wood  used  in  the 
screen,  furnishings  and  pews  will  be  of  polished  oak.  All  of  the  modern  sani- 
tary appliances  will  be  introduced  to  secure  comfort  to  the  three  hundred 
worshippers.  The  ventilation  is  to  be  secured  from  the  tower,  which  is  70  feet 
high.     Work  is  to  be  commenced  as  soon  as  contracts  can  be  made." 

On  November  6th,  A.  D.  1887,  in  the  Old  Mill  House,  on  the  Asbury 
estate,  services  began.  On  November  12th,  A.  D.  1888  Charles  J.  Mason  was 
called  as  minister-in-charge,  but  he  held  the  post  only  a  short  time.  Rev. 
Mr.  Boyer  and  Wm.  P.  Taylor  (lay -reader),  became  the  main  supplies  of  the 
Mission,  and  the  services  were  very  acceptable  to  the  neighborhood. 

The  Third  Sunday  in  Advent,  December  16th,  1888,  Mr.  Mason  began 
regular  services  in  this  Mission  of  the  Germantown  Convocation,  under  the 
Deanship  of  Dr.  James  De  Wolfe  Perry.  The  worship  was  conducted  in 
Melrose  Hall  through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  T.  Henry  Asbury. 

Perseverance  and  loving  devotion  have  developed  the  work  in  a  com- 
munity offering  grand  opportunities  for  the  future. 

A  Ladies'  Guild  gave  aid  to  the  parish,  and  made  up  a  Lenten  Mis- 
sionary box. 

Mr.  T.  M.  Baines  was  appointed  S.  S.  Superintendent  by  Rev.  Dr.  Edward 
Appleton,  Rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Cheltenham. 

Mrs.  Clara  Gadbury  carpeted  and  furnished  the  S.  S.  Room,  showing 
kindly  interest ;  while  Mrs.  Asbury  donated  an  organ. 

No.  3  Asbury  Terrace  was  used  for  services. 

Mr.  Earle  was  Secretary  of  the  Sunday  School,  and  Mr.  Latourette  and 
Mr.  Moore  were  successive  Librarians. 

Rev.  Dr.  E.  H.  Supplee  had  charge  of  the  work  from  1889  to  1891.  Twenty- 
six  were  confirmed  during  his  useful  ministry. 

The  Rev.  Walter  Jordan,  the  present  rector,  is  a  Philadelphian,  and  was 
a  Moravian  clergyman.  After  having  been  educated  at  Henry  D.  George's 
School  in  his  native  city,  he  pursued  his  studies  in  the  Moravian  College  and 
Theological  Seminary  at  Bethlehem,  Penna.;  and  became  a  tutor  in  Nazareth 
Hall,  at  Nazareth,  Pa.  He  was  a  Moravian  pastor  at  Lebanon,  Pa.,  and  at 
Canal  Dover,  Ohio.  He  then  entered  the  Episcopal  Church,  acting  as  lay- 
reader  for  Dr.  Watson  at  the  Atonement,  in  Philadelphia ;  afterward  became 
Rector's  Assistant  to  Dr.  McVickar  at  Holy  Trinity  Church,  Philadelphia 


80  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

and  subsequently  Rector  of  St.  Stephen's,  Bridesburg,  in  the  same  city,  whence 
he  came  to  Oak  Lane,  assuming  the  rectorship  June  18th,  A.  D.  1891.  Bishop 
Coleman,  of  Delaware,  performed  a  service  of  Benediction  of  the  new  church, 
November  28th,  1891. 

The  Ellwood  Public  School  on  Oak  Lane  is  constructed  of  gray  stone, 
with  brown  stone  trimmings,  two  stories  in  height.  It  is  the  third  school 
house  which  has  stood  on  these  grounds.  It  is  shaded  with  friendly  trees 
which  give  comfort  to  the  pupils  in  a  summer  recess.  The  inscription  on  the 
wall  is  1875.     Mr.  H.  Lawrence  Noble  is  the  Principal  of  the  school. 

There  was  a  former  school  house  here  where  Alexander  Wilson,  the  orni- 
thologist taught,  and  Rev.  John  Bachman,  a  Lutheran  clergyman,  and  a  pro- 
fessor in  Charleston  College  was  also  a  teacher.  He  assisted  John  James 
Audubon  in  preparing  for  the  press  "  The  Quadrupeds  of  America."  See  W. 
J.  Buck's  History  of  Montgomery  County,  and  Allibone's  Dictionary  of 
Authors,  under  "  J.  J.  Audubon,"  and  the  Life  of  J.  J.  Audubon  by  his  widow. 
The  widow  used  to  reside  in  "  Audubon  Park  ",  a  pretty  suburb  near  152nd 
Street,  New  York,  on  the  Hudson,  which  perpetuated  her  husband's  name 
and  fame. 

John  James  Audubon,  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  was  the.  son  of  a 
French  Admiral,  who  gave  honor  to  America  by  his  "  Birds  of  America," 
which  was  published  at  $1000  for  the  87  parts.  Cuvier,  Herschel,  Humboldt 
and  Walter  Scott  showed  an  interest  in  this  work.  "  Quadrupeds  of  North 
America  "  by  the  same  author,  contained  drawings  made  by  Audubon,  and 
his  sons  Victor  GifFord  and  John  Woodhouse.  The  letter  press  was  princi- 
pally prepared  by  Rev.  Dr.  Bachman,  who  also  assisted  in  the  work  on  Orni- 
thology. He  wrote  other  works  himself,  and  was  pastor  of  the  German 
Lutheran  Church  in  Charleston,  S.  C. 

A  part  of  the  former  school  house  was  used  for  divine  service  under  the 
kind  arrangement  of  Dr.  de  Benneville,  who  gave  much  time  and  attention 
to  the  work,  and  entertained  the  clergy.  Rev.  George  Sheets  with  others 
gave  special  care  to  this  good  work. 

THE  REV.  GEORGE  SHEETS. 

In  1859  this  good  man  writes  Mrs.  Mears  from  Missouri  giving  a  pleasant 
account  of  his  religious  and  social  intercourse  with  her  grandfather,  Dr. 
George  de  Benneville,  and  of  their  co-working  in  the  religious  services  at  the 
Milestown  School  House.  In  1863  he  writes  again  to  express  his  pleasure  in 
seeing  in  the  Inquirer  that  Bishop  Potter  is  to  visit  the  House  of  Prayer,  as  he 
did  not  know  that  the  church  had  been  erected  near  the  scene  of  his  monthly 
labors  in  the  school  house,  but  hopes  it  may  be  blessed  in  spiritual  life  and 
holy  sacraments  as  the  "  House  of  God  "  and  "  Gate  of  Heaven  ".  He  hopes 
that  the  several  churches  on  the  ground  he  used  to  traverse  are  prospering, 
and  rejoices  at  their  number. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  81 

This  clergyman  was  rector  of  All  Saints,  Upper  Dublin  and  Trinity 
Church,  Oxford. 

BENJAMIN  LAY. 

One  of  the  most  striking  characters  that  ever  resided  on  the  Old  York 
Road  was  Benjamin  Lay.  In  Watson's  Annals  of  Philadelphia,  (vol.  1,  page 
552),  we  read  as  follows  : 

"  1742 — Benjamin  Lay^  (the  singular  Pythagorean,  cynical.  Christian  phil- 
osopher), in  the  time  of  the  Friends'  general  meeting  (where  he  usually 
worshipped),  stood  in  the  market  place,  with  a  large  box  of  his  deceased 
wife's  china,  to  bear  his  testimony  against  the  use  of  tea !  There  with  a 
hammer  he  began  to  break  his  ware  piece  by  piece  ;  but  the  populace,  unwill- 
ing to  lose  what  might  profit  them,  overset  him,  scrambled  for  the  china,  and 
bore  it  off  whole  "  ! 

In  vol.  2,  page  20,  Watson  says :  "  As  early  as  1700  there  were  four 
hermits  living  near  Germantown — John  Seelig,  Kelpius,  Bony,  and  Conrad 
Mathias.  They  lived  near  Wissahickon  and  the  Ridge.  Benjamin  Lay  lived 
in  a  cave  near  the  York  Road  at  Branchtown  ", 

On  page  23  he  adds  :  "  Benjamin  Lay,  the  hermit,  called  the  Pythagorean, 
cynical,  christian  philosopher,  dwelt  in  a  cave  on  the  York  Road,  near  Dr.  de 
Bonneville's.  He  left  it  in  the  year  1741,  and  went  to  reside  with  John  Phipps, 
near  Friends'  meeting  house  at  Abington.  He  was  suddenly  taken  ill  when 
from  home,  and  desired  he  might  be  taken  to  the  dwelling  of  his  friend  Joshua 
Morris,  about  a  mile  from  Phipps',  where  he  died  on  the  3rd  of  February, 
1759,  aged  82  years.  He  was  the  first  public  declaimer  against  the  iniqui- 
ties of  holding  slaves.  He  was  in  communion  with  the  Germantown  Friends. 
It  is  to  the  honour  of  the  German  Friends  of  Germantown,  that  as  early  as 
1678  they  addressed  the  Philadelphia  Yearly  meeting  at  Burlington,  protesting 
against  the  buying,  selling,  and  holding  men  in  slavery,  and  declaring  it,  in 
their  opinion,  an  act  irreconcileable  with  the  precepts  of  the  Christian 
religion  ". 

In  A.  D.  1815  "  Solomon  W.  Conrad,  No.  187,  High  Street  (now  Market 
Street),  Philadelphia,  published,  and  W.  Brown  printed  an  interesting  little 
book  entitled  "  Memoirs  of  the  Lives  of  Benjamin  Lay  and  Ralph  Sandiford ; 
two  of  the  earliest  public  advocates  for  the  emancipation  of  the  enslaved 
Africans.  By  Roberts  Vaux.  It  was  dedicated  to  Dr.  Caspar  Wister,  Pro- 
fessor of  Anatomy  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  Society  for  Promoting 
the  Abolition  of  Slavery,  &c., — and  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society, 
&c.,  &c  ".  The  book  is  in  the  Library  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Penna.  and 
the  Library  of  Philadelphia,  No.  2429,  Uz  1  -]-. 

Benjamin  Lay  was  a  native  of  Colchester,  England,  born  in  1677,  in  a 
family  of  Friends.  He  was  apprenticed  to  a  gjovemaker,  and  afterwards 
worked  on  a  farm  which  was  in  charge  of  his  brother.  When  he  came  of  age 
6 


82  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

he  became  a  sailor  and  wandered  over  the  world,  visiting  the  Holy  Land  and 
^'  the  memorable  spot  where  the  Saviour  of  the  world  conversed  with  the 
woman  of  Samaria,  and  refreshed  himself  by  a  draught  of  water  from  Jacob's 
well".  See  St.  John,  4,  5,  &c.,  and  Chateaubriand's  Travels  in  Greece, 
Palestine,  &c.,  Phila.  edition,  page  289. 

In  1710  Lay  left  the  sea,  and  married,  and  settled  in  his  native  town. 
He  seems  to  have  engaged  in  the  public  controversies  of  England,  and  it  is 
presumed  that  he  probably  went  beyond  his  religious  brethren  in  such  matters, 
as  "  they  were  induced  to  disunite  him  from  membership.  "  No  immoral 
charge  was  made  against  him. 

In  1718  he  entered  the  mercantile  business  in  Barbadoes.  The  cruelties 
of  the  slave  trade  were  now  before  him,  and  his  sympathy  was  moved  toward 
the  poor  Africans  ;  and  he  strongly  endeavored  to  make  the  traffic  odious.  He 
pleaded  with  the  oppressor,  and  showed  benevolence  to  the  oppressed  slave 
by  pity  and  kind  notice.  Many  hundreds  of  them  would  gratefully  come  to 
his  house  in  town  for  instruction  on  the  Lord's  Day.  He  gave  them  advice 
and  food.  A  clamor  arose  against  this,  and  hostility  was  provoked,  and  after 
some  years  he  came  to  Philadelphia,  reaching  here  in  1731. 

A  picture  of  the  man  with  his  wide  brimmed  hat,  large  eyes,  long  beard 
and  short  body,  with  diminutive  legs,  is  given  as  a  frontispiece  of  Mr.  Vaux's 
volume.  He  holds  a  book  in  his  right  hand,  which  also  grasps  a  staff.  "  He 
was  only  four  feet  seven  inches  in  height ;  his  head  w^as  large  in  proportion  to 
his  body ;  the  features  of  his  face  were  remarkable  and  boldly  delineated,  and 
his  countenance  was  grave  and  benignant.  He  was  hunch-backed,  with  a 
projecting  chest,  below  which  his  body  became  much  contracted.  His  legs 
were  so  slender,  as  to  appear  almost  uneG[ual  to  the  purpose  of  supporting  him, 
diminutive  as  his  frame  was,  in  comparison  with  the  ordinary  size  of  the 
human  stature.  A  habit  he  had  contracted  of  standing  in  a  twisted  position, 
with  one  hand  resting  upon  his  left  hip,  added  to  the  effect  produced  by  a 
large  white  beard  that  for  many  years  had  not  been  shaved,  contributed  to 
render  his  figure  perfectly  unique.  It  is  singular  that  his  wife  very  much 
resembled  him  in  size,  having  a  crooked  back  like  her  husband,  and  the  simi- 
larity of  their  appearance  even  excited  the  remarks  of  the  slaves  in  Barbadoes, 
who  used  to  say  when  they  saw  them  together,  "  That  little  backararer  (name 
for  Europeans  or  white  people),  man  go  all  over  world,  seek  for  that  backararer 
woman  for  himself  ". 

Pennsylvania  slavery  was  milder  than  that  of  the  West  Indies,  but  the 
emigrant  again  zealously  worked  against  it,  and  met  opposition.  He  was 
disappointed  at  this  reception  in  Philadelphia,  named  from  brotherly  love, 
promising  rest  and  tranquillity  to  the  afflicted  man,  so  he  determined  to 
retire,  and  built  a  cottage  which  resembled  a  cave,  at  Branchtown,  and  planted 
an  orchard,  and  cultivated  walnut  trees  which  became  his  living  monuments. 
In  1732  he  removed  hither.  "  He  now  adopted  habits  of  the  most  rigid  tem- 
perance, self-denial,  and  frugality,  which  he  ever  after  observed.     He  drank 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  83 

nothing  but  water  and  milk  and  subsisted  altogether  upon  vegetable  diet. 
His  clothing  was  entirely  composed  of  tow  fabric,  of  his  own  spinning,  and  of 
the  natural  colour ".  He  would  not  eat  food,  or  wear  garments,  or  use 
articles  "  procured  at  the  expense  of  animal  life,  or  in  the  remotest  degree 
the  product  of  the  labor  of  slaves  ". 

He  visited  several  provincial  governors,  and  other  characters  of  influence 
in  church  and  state  to  propagate  his  views,  and  labored  among  all  whom  he 
met.  He  continued  a  Friend  in  principles,  though  he  had  been  dropped  from 
membership.  At  a  yearly  meeting  in  Burlington,  N.  J.,  Lay  filled  a  bladder 
with  pokeberry  juice,  and  hid  it  in  a  book,  the  leaves  of  which  had  been  taken 
out.  He  donned  a  military  coat,  and  had  a  sword  by  his  side,  covered  by  a 
simple  great  coat,  fastened  by  one  button.  He  went  into  the  meeting  house 
to  a  prominent  place,  and  rebuked  the  congregation  in  a  short  and  strong 
speech  for  holding  slaves,  declaring  it  "  in  direct  opposition  to  every  principle 
of  reason,  humanity  and  religion  ",  adding,  "  you  might  as  well  throw  off  the 
plain  coat  as  I  do  ",  loosing  the  button,  and  letting  the  great  coat  fall,  showing 
his  warlike  attire  to  amazed  eyes,  and  continuing  thus,  "  It  would  be  as  justi- 
fiable in  the  sight  of  the  Almighty,  who  beholds  and  respects  all  nations  and 
colours  of  men  with  an  equal  regard,  if  you  should  thrust  a  sword  through 
their  hearts  as  I  do  through  this  book  ".  Drawing  his  sword,  and  piercing 
the  bladder,  its  contents  were  sprinkled  over  those  who  were  sitting  near  him. 
Dr.  John  Watson,  of  Bucks  County,  received  the  above  account  from  his 
neighbor,  Jonathan  Ingham,  Esq.,  who  witnessed  the  scene. 

During  a  deep  snow  Lay  placed  himself  "  at  a  gate  way,  opening  to  one 
of  their  meeting  houses,  having  his  right  leg  and  foot  entirely  uncovered ;  as 
the  people  went  in,  several  of  them  reasoned  with  him  for  thus  exposing  him- 
self, and  cautioned  him  against  the  danger  of  contracting  disease  by  such  con- 
duct. 'Ah,  (said  Lay),  you  pretend  compassion  for  me,  but  you  do  not  feel  for  the 
poor  slaves  in  your  fields,  who  go  all  winter  half  clad. ' " 

He  remonstrated  with  a  neighbor  against  keeping  a  slave.  The  man  had 
an  interesting  son  six  years  old,  and  Lay  allured  him  to  his  cave,  and  amused 
him  in  its  concealment.  In  the  evening  he  saw  the  father  and  mother  run- 
ning to  his  abode  in  distress,  and  asked  the  cause,  and  they  answered  in 
anguish,  "  Oh,  Benjamin !  Benjamin !  our  child  is  gone,  he  has  been  missing 
all  day  ".  Lay  replied,  after  a  pause,  "  Your  child  is  safe  in  my  house,  and  you 
TYiay  now  conceive  of  the  sorrow  you  inflict  upon  the  parents  of  the  negro  girl  you 
hold  in  slavery,  for  she  was  torn  from  them  by  avarice  ". 

In  1737  Lay  put  out  a  book  against  slavery.  He  gave  his  book  away, 
especially  to  the  young. 

Dr.  Franklin  and  Governor  Richard  Penn  and  other  gentlemen  visited 
Lay  and  dined  on  his  fruit  and  vegetables. 

When  Lay  moved  to  the  farm  of  John  Phipps,  his  wife  was  relieved  of 
care  by  their  boarding  in  the  family  of  Mr.  Phipps.  The  wife  died  soon  after 
the  removal.     Sarah  Lay  was  pious  and  intelligent  and  a  minister  among 


84  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Friends,  and  assisted  her  husband  in  the  work  for  emancipation.  They  had 
no  children  to  mourn  the  mother's  death. 

Lay  was  very  truthful.  Some  persons  on  horseback  met  him  while  walk- 
ing, and  one  said  for  diversion,  "Sir,  your  humble  servant, "  Lay  replied,  "  If 
thou  art  my  humble  servant,  clean  my  shoes  ".  They  asked  him  the  direct  road 
to  heaven,  and  received  the  reply  in  Scripture  language,  ''Do  justly,  love 
mercy,  and  walk  humbly  with  your  God  ". 

Anthony  Benezet  and  Dr.  de  Benneville,  and  many  others  of  note,  includ- 
ing Ralph  Sandiford,  were  his  friends. 

Lay  strove  to  ameliorate  criminal  laws,  and  promote  temperance,  and 
visited  schools  to  teach  children  humanity,  "  and  to  follow  the  meek  and 
humble  example  of  our  holy  Redeemer  ".  One  pupil  remembered  his  instruc- 
tion over  sixty  years.  He  was  charitable,  and  ready  to  do  good  without  osten- 
tation. He  loved  retirement,  and  his  second  cave  was  near  a  spring,  and  its 
roof  was  beautiful  with  evergreen  festoons.  He  had  nearly  two  hundred 
books.  Mr.  Vaux  gives  some  of  his  wise  marginal  notes  from  two  of  the 
volumes. 

This  philanthropist  was  an  early  riser,  and  used  to  bodily  exercise.  He 
cultivated  bees,  but  did  not  destroy  them. 

When  a  friend  told  him  that  the  Friends  would  disown  those  concerned  in 
slavery,  he  arose,  and  in  a  posture  of  reverential  devotion,  ejaculated,  "  Thanks- 
giving and  praise  be  rendered  unto  the  Lord  God  ",  and  after  pausing  a  little, 
added,  "  I  can  now  die  in  peace  ". 

Not  long  after  he  died,  having  "  by  a  verbal  will  "  given  the  Friends  at 
Abington  forty  pounds  to  educate  "  the  poor  children  of  that  meeting  ".  He 
was  buried  in  the  "  Friends'  burial  ground  at  Abington  ".  He  left  a  personal 
estate,  which  was  his  only  property,  of  £  ^18  12  s.  9  d. 

The  Phipps  property  is  now  "Alverthorpe ",  the  Fisher  place,  opposite 
Abington  meeting  house. 

Mrs.  Anne  de  Benneville  Mears  notes  that  Lay's  first  cave  was  on  the 
farm  of  Griffith  Miles,  on  a  hillside,  on  the  west  side  of  Joseph  Wharton's 
pond,  and  there  was  a  cave  for  his  wife  near  by.  The  excavation  was  covered 
with  timber,  thatched  with  straw.  This  interesting  spot  was,  according  to 
Mrs.  Mears,  where  Joseph  Wharton's  mansion,  "  Outalauna,"  stands. 

I  find  the  following  in  William  Cobbett's  writings : 

"  Ben  Lay  was  the  only  real  and  sincere  Pythagorean  of  modern  times, 
that  I  ever  heard  of  He  protested  not  only  against  eating  the  flesh  of  animals, 
but  also  against  robbing  their  backs ;  and  therefore  his  dress  consisted  wholly 
of  flax."     (Cobbett's  Residence  in  the  United  States,  Part  II,  Chap.  12,  p.  257.) 

Watson  says  (Annals,  Vol.  1,  p.  135)  concerning  the  Treaty  Tree,  "Judge 
Peters  remarked  too  that  Benjamin  Lay,  the  hermit,  who  came  to  this  country 
in  1731,  used  to  visit  it,  and  speak  of  it  as  the  place  of  the  treaty ;  of  course  he 
had  his  opinion  from  those  who  preceded  him." 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  85 

Mrs.  Mears  informed  me  that  Dr.  de  Benneville  gave  Mr.  Vaux  informa- 
tion as  to  Lay's  history. 

The  Cowperthwait,  Coates,  Leech,  Penrose,  Mather,  Lukens,  Reese, 
Fletcher  and  Heath  families  are  described  in  Mrs.  Anne  de  Benneville  Mears's 
book  entitled  "  The  Old  York  Road  and  its  Associations."  The  Leech  family 
receives  special  attention,  as  well  as  the  de  Bennevilles  and  the  Shoemakers, 
and  the  Peekys.  One  who  wishes  to  trace  in  detail  the  early  history  of  this 
region  will  find  much  valuable  information  in  her  book. 

MILESTOWN. 

Samuel  Showers  and  Mrs.  Ellis  were  former  residents  of  places  on  the 
west  side  of  York  Road,  owned  by  Robert  Nice.  An  old  house  near  by  was 
formerly  the  property  of  Mr.  Burns.  .Joseph  Kulp's  house  was  formerly  a 
tavern  kept  by  the  Kulp  family. 

The  house  of  Mr.  Frank  Betts,  above  Oak  Lane  was  built  by  the  widow 
of  Samuel  Peeky. 

Next  below  is  the  residence  of  Dr.  Betts,  well  known  as  a  physician  in 
this  section  and  one  of  the  physicians  of  the  Jewish  Hospital. 

Thomas  Lister,  a  former  Crier  of  the  Court,  lived  in  a  pretty  cottage  next 
above  the  house  of  Frank  Betts,  which  was  erected  by  himself.  He  sold  it  to 
Miss  Eliza  Showers.  Mr.  Lister  was  the  original  beginner  of  improvements 
at  Oak  Lane  by  selling  lots,  and  giving  ground  for  the  railway  station.  He 
died  a  few  years  since.  The  lots  w^hich  he  sold  were  formerly  the  property  of 
tlie  David  Rorer  estate. 

Joseph  l^rench  lived  in  a  house  at  the  lower  corner  of  Oak  Lane  and  the 
York  Road.  He  had  the  store  opposite.  Afterward  the  widow  of  Rev. 
Nathan  Danforth,  Mrs.  Frances  Danforth,  kept  a  Ladies'  Day  School  there  for 
years.  She  went  to  Burmah  as  a  missionary.  This  was  a  part  of  the 
de  Benneville  estate. 

Mr.  Theodore  Delaney's  fine  stone  mansion  is  also  on  the  former 
de  Benneville  property.  The  house  was  built  by  Hall  W.  Mercer,  who  sold 
it  to  Mr.  Repplier,  who  in  turn  sold  to  Jacob  Bender,  and  John  K.  Folwell 
purchased  the  property  of  him.  He  was  a  lawyer.  He  sold  the  property  to 
Mr.  Delaney.  The  lawn  and  trees  add  much  to  the  beauty  of  this  comfortable 
home,  and  St.  Martin's  Church  opposite,  with  the  rolling  country  about  it 
make  a  picturesque  view. 

Mr.  Powell  Stackhouse,  who  lives  next  below  the  Milestown  Methodist 
Church  has  resided  in  this  neighborhood  for  a  number  of  years  and  is  well 
informed  concerning  the  history  of  this  region. 

THE  MILESTOWN  M.  E.  CHURCH. 

The  inscription  on  the  stone  over  the  door  of  the  pretty  stone  building  on 
the  Old  York  Road  reads,  "  Organized  1831.    Edifice  erected  1834.     Enlarged 


86  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

1879."  There  is  a  tower  on  the  front  of  the  church,  and  the  windows  are 
Gothic,  though  the  old  part  in  the  rear  is  of  simpler  construction.  The  edifice 
stands  on  a  pretty  hillside,  and  a  sweet  country  graveyard,  wdth  its  memories 
of  earth,  and  hopes  of  heaven  adjoins  it.  There  is  a  rose  window  in  the  lower 
gable  of  the  church.  There  is  an  entrance  in  the  tower,  and  another  one  in 
front  with  a  small  porch.  The  roof  is  of  slate.  The  stone  parsonage  adjoin- 
ing is  roughcast.     It  is  a  neat  building. 

The  grave  of  William  Megargee  is  in  a  large  family  lot.  On  the  tomb- 
stone of  John  C.  Burns,  M.  D.,  are  the  words,  "  Fell  Asleep  in  Jesus."  "A 
Life  of  Usefulness  and  Faith  in  the  Son  of  God."  He  died  in  1887.  Ten 
soldiers  of  the  southern  war  are  buried  here.  Joseph  Engle,  a  soldier  in  the 
war  of  1812,  rests  in  this  yard.  The  Lister,  Clapp  and  Wenzell  families  have 
their  family  lots  where  they  gather  together  when  life's  journey  is  ended,  and 
let  us  hope  are  united  in  a  heavenly  home.  Valentine  Staak  and  his  wife 
Catharine,  and  Jonathan  Engle's  family  are  among  the  sleepers.  Dr.  Robert 
C.  Shelmardine,  who  died  in  1876,  aged  77,  and  his  wife  Eliza,  who  died  in 
1875,  aged  72,  have  this  inscription : 

"  They  have  gone  to  their  home, 
For  the  evening  is  come, 
And  their  toils  are  o'er." 

The  living  green  vine  which  covers  their  cradle  tomb,  and  contrasts 
prettily  with  the  white  marble  may  serve  as  an  emblem  of  life  beyond  the 
grave.  Samuel  Morton,  Mary  Freed,  Samuel  Coffman,  George  Heller,  William 
Nice,  Mrs.  Eliza  Kulp,  and  Elizabeth  Hergsheimer  sleep  in  this  well  kept 
sacred  enclosure.  The  singing  of  birds  on  this  bright  day  in  May  brings 
cheerful  sounds  among  these  silent  abodes.  Mr.  Richard  R.  Branin  gives  the 
stranger  the  needed  information.  The  rear  building  which  was  the  old 
church,  is  now  used  as  a  Sunday  School  room.  The  building  is  lighted  by 
electricity. 

"God  is  Love"  is  inscribed  on  the  chancel  wall.  Glass  doors  separate 
the  church  and  Sunday  School  room,  so  that  they  may  be  combined.  The 
interior  is  bright  and  cheerful. 

Other  graves  deserve  our  notice.  On  the  memorial  stone  of  John  Jones 
is  engraved  a  hand  pointing  upward,  with  the  inscription,  "  No  Sorrow 
There  ".  The  buttercups  around  and  dandelions  in  seed,  looking  like  fleecy 
cobwebs,  teach  that  there  may  be  pleasure  here  on  the  footstool  of  God 
among  his  beautiful  works.  Hezekiah  Flower  of  the  U.  S.  Cavalry  lies 
here  having  finished  life's  battle.  Graves  without  stones  tell  of  some 
who  were  not  forgotten  in  death,  though  not  now  so  easily  traced  as  to 
their  history.  The  Milligan  family  have  their  record  in  stone.  The 
faded  flags  on  soldier's  graves  speak  well  for  a  comely  and  decent  custom  on 
Decoration  Day  of  signalizing  the  deeds  of  heroic  men  who  gave  life  for 
country.     The  bushes    growing    on    the    graves    show    life   amidst  death. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  87 

Abraham  Hall,  Sr.,  of  Yorkshire,  England,  has  a  monument  erected  by  his 
wife  Elizabeth.  He  died  in  his  75th  year.  The  grass  is  being  mowed  on  this 
yard,  bringing  to  mind  the  90th  Psalm,  "  They  are  like  grass  which  groweth 
up.  In  the  morning  it  flourisheth,  and  groweth  up ;  in  the  evening  it  is  cut 
down,  and  withereth."  Rev.  Henry  Hess  is  the  pastor  of  this  parish.  Rev. 
F.  F.  Bond  was  his  predecessor.  (For  statistics  see  Scharf  &  Westcott's  History 
of  Philadelphia,  Vol.  '2,  p.  1399.) 

Some  ancient  and  picturesque  dwellings  of  stone  are  near  the  church.  In 
a  pleasant  farmhouse  just  above  the  parsonage,  standing  with  its  gable  toward 
the  road,  lived  for  many  years  Thomas  Lees,  highly  respected  by  his  neigh- 
bors.    He  has  lately  moved  to  Byberry,  near  Bustleton. 

The  City  Line  Hotel  at  the  corner  of  City  Line  and  York  Road  is  now 
closed  and  marked  "  For  Rent ".  There  is  a  striking  old  stone  barn  in  its 
rear.  A  pleasant  stone  cottage  with  a  vine-clad  piazza,  and  a  neat  wall  clad 
with  vines,  and  a  conservatory  adjoining  the  house,  and  a  bank  of  flowers  on 
the  lawn,  meets  the  pedestrian  as  he  turns  down  City  Line  towards  the 
railway. 

The  houses  which  are  on  the  high  ground  above  the  hall  and  ha-ha  wall 
below  them,  with  its  broken  top  of  alternate  rising  stones  make  a  pretty  scene. 

The  old  stone  mansion  on  North  wood  Cemetery  was  long  since  an 
Institute  for  Colored  Youth,  under  the  charge  of  the  Friends.  The  lads  were 
taught  farming.  Joseph  Ely  had  charge  of  the  establishment.  This  place 
was  sold  to  Caleb  Cope  of  Chester  County,  Penna.,  who  sold  it  to  Thomas  Lea, 
a  dry  goods  merchant  in  Philadelphia  ;  and  his  son-in-law  Mr.  Perot,  having 
acquired  the  property,  conveyed  it  to  the  Northwood  Cemetery  Company. 
Thirty-six  acres  had  been  previously  sold  to  Robert  T.  Steel  which  has  since 
been  bought  by  a  syndicate. 

The  house  of  Thomas  Lees,  lately  bought  by  Mr.  Asbury,  was  formerly 
the  abode  of  Samuel  Peeky,  of  an  ancient  family  hereabouts.  He  owned  a 
mill  for  fulling  buckskin  which  stood  where  Mr.  Asbury's  hydraulic  ram  is 
now  placed. 

Congressman  Morris  Davis's  property,  Mr.  Lees  informs  me,  was  a  part  of 
a  Peeky  estate. 

SHOEMAKERTOWN   AND   VICINITY,   BY   ROBERT   SHOEMAKER. 

Shoemakertown,  a  small  village  on  the  Old  York  Turnpike,  in  Chelten- 
ham Township,  Montgomery  County,  Pennsylvania,  8  miles  north  of  Phila- 
delphia, is  one  of  the  oldest  towns  in  the  State.  The  name  was  early  given 
to  the  place  from  the  fact  of  several  families  named  ''Shoemaker"  having 
settled  there,  or  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  seven- 
teenth century.  The  family  came  from  Cresheim  or  Greisheim,  in  the  Pala- 
tinate, on  the  Rhine,  Germany,  in  1682.  William  Ames,  a  preacher  in  the 
Society  of  Friends,  with  others  of  the  same  Society,  visiting  Germany,  as 


88  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

preachers  of  the  Gospel,  came  into  the  neighborhood  of  Creisheim.  Among 
their  hearers  were  George  Shoemaker,  and  his  brothers,  Peter,  Jacob  and 
Isaac.  It  is  not  certain  however,  that  these  were  all  brothers.  If  not,  Jacob 
and  Isaac  were  cousins. 

Having  embraced  the  religious  belief  of  these  Quakers  from  England, 
and,  in  consequence  of  the  change  in  their  religious  views,  conscientiously 
declining  to  pay  military  taxes,  they  met  with  great  loss  in  the  distrainment 
of  their  goods,  and  suffered  persecution  in  other  ways.  William  Penn,  it  is 
said  visited  these  converts  in  Germany ;  whether  this  was  the  case,  or  not,  it 
is  known  that  he  invited  a  number  of  them  to  go  to  Pennsylvania.  (For 
account  of  this  visit,  and  Prof.  Seilensticker's  journey  of  inquiry,  see  Hotch- 
kin's  History  of  Germantown,  pp.  380-383.  Author).  Of  the  number  who 
came,  were  the  three  Shoemakers  named  above.  George,  with  his  wife  and 
seven  children,  sailed  from  England  on  the  ship  "  Jefferies, "  Captain  Arnold. 
The  ship  arrived  at  Chester  on  the  Delaware,  on  the  12th  day  of  the  8th 
month  1685. 

But  on  the  passage,  that  dreadful  disease,  small  pox,  broke  out,  and 
among  the  victims  who  died  and  were  buried  at  sea,  was  George  Shoe- 
maker. On  the  eldest  son,  whose  name  was  also  George,  23  years  of  age,  fell 
the  responsibility  of  caring  for  the  whole  of  the  remaining  part  of  the  family. 
The  widow  and  her  family  settled  in  Cheltenham  Township  (then  Philadel- 
phia) Montgomer}^  County,  Penna. 

The  certificate  of  marriage  of  George  Shoemaker  and  Sarah  Wain  on 
parchment,  is  in  the  possession  of  Dr.  William  L.  Shoemaker  of  Georgetown,  D. 
C.  The  document  is  in  a  good  state  of  preservation,  and  is  signed  by  the  con- 
tracting parties  and  many  witnesses.  The  groom,  as  well  as  a  number  who 
certify  as  witnesses,  wrote  their  names  in  German. 

In  the  Shoemaker  graveyard  lie  the  bodies  of  the  Shoemakers  and  of 
Richard  and  Nicholas  Wain,  the  Mathers,  Thomsons,  Hallowells,  &c.  The 
ground  is  now  seldom  used  for  interments. 

Toby  Leech.  From  Bean's  History  of  ^lontgomery  County  we  read — 
"  It  is  supposed  the  name  '  Cheltenham  '  was  given  to  the  township  by  Toby 
Leech,  one  of  the  earliest  settlers,  who  came  from  Cheltenham,  Gloucester- 
shire, England,  in  1682,  making  his  residence  on  the  Tacony  Creek,  near 
what  is  now  Myers  &  Ervien's  Fork  Factory,  one-half  mile  east  of  Shoemaker- 
town.  He  made  a  purchase  of  604  acres,  upon  which  he  erected  a  grist  mill 
and  tannery.  He  was  a  prominent  man  in  his  day.  A  road  was  laid  out 
from  his  place  to  Germantown  before  the  Spring  of  1704.  He  was  one  of  the 
County  Commissioners  in  1718,  which  office  he  held  for  several  years.  He 
died  in  1726  aged  74  years,  and  his  wife  Hester,  the  August  previous.  Both 
lie  buried  beneath  one  stone  in  Trinity  Churchyard,  Oxford.  His  old  man- 
sion still  stands,  near  to  the  old  grist  mill,  now  a  small  part  of  the  extensive 
establishment  of  Myers  &  Ervien's  Fork  Mill.  Tradition  says  that  Mr.  Leech 
carried  on  here  (from  the  flour  of  his  mill),  the  manufacture  of  sea  biscuits 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  89 

which  were  hauled  to  the  city  and  sold  to  shippers.  Traces  of  the  old  oven 
are  still  pointed  out.  " 

But  to  return  to  the  Shoemakers.  George  Shoemaker  aforementioned, 
was  a  tax  payer  in  Cheltenham  Township  in  1693.  His  house  stood  on  the 
spot  now  occupied  by  the  old  stone  mansion,  afterward  the  residence  of  Isaac 
Shoemaker  and  Dorothy,  his  wife,  (Dorothy  was  a  daughter  of  Toby  Leech), 
John  Shoemaker  afterward,  and  then  his  son  Charles.  Upon  the  death  of 
Charles,  his  son,  Isaac  became  the  owner  of  the  property  and  the  mill.  In 
1847  the  premises  became  the  property  of  Charles  Rosier.  He  died  in  1873. 
The  house  is  now  owned  by  his  son  Joseph  Rosier,  who  operates  the  farm,  as 
well  as  the  extensive  business  of  the  mill,  known  as  the  "  Cheltenham 
Flour  Mill.  "  The  Old  Stone  Mansion  still  stands,  a  monument  of  the  olden 
time,  a  part  of  it  supposed  to  be  that  in  which  lived  the  above  named  Isaac 
and  Dorothy  Shoemaker.  The  old  mill  was  built  prior  to  1747  by  Dorothy 
(widow  of  Isaac  Shoemaker)  and  Richard  Mather.  The  articles  of  agreement 
between  these  two  are  dated  6th  day  of  Nov.,  1746.  The  mill,  in  this  docu- 
ment is  styled  a  "  Corn-Grist  Mill,  "  and  further  :  "  Ye  s'd  mill  and  for  other 
conveniences  abovt  ye  s'd  mill  (ye  race  and  dam  excepted)  is  to  begin  at 
Toxony  Crick,  opposite  ye  s'd  Dorothy's  garden  at  ye  place  of  s'd  crick  com- 
monly called  and  known  by  the  name  of  ye  Slieeps- Washing-Place  and  from 
thence  to  extend  down  ye  east  side  of  ye  s'd  crick  to  the  fording  place  of  s'd 
crick  in  ye  York  Road.  " 

The  fording  place  long  since  disappeared.  The  present  stone  arch  bridge 
over  Tacony  Creek,  at  this  spot  was  built  in  1793.  The  arch,  some  60  feet 
span,  stands  to-day,  apparently  as  good  as  when  first  built.  The  masons  who 
constructed  it  did  their  work  well ;  the  mortar,  now,  is  apparently  as  hard  and 
firm  as  the  stone  itself.  Wood  burned  lime  and  pure  sand  are  the  compon- 
ents of  that  mortar.  It  is  probable  "  Hydraulic  Cements,  "  were  not  used,  at 
least  in  this  country,  at  that  earlj^  day. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  Old  York  Road  stood,  and  still  stands,  another 
grand  old  mansion  of  stone.  This  house  was  built  by  John  Shoemaker,  a 
brother  of  Charles,  the  elder,  both  he  and  his  wife  Jane,  (nee  Ashbridge)  were 
ministers  in  the  Society  of  Friends,  They  both  died  prior  to  the  year  1824. 
After  their  death  the  property  was  occupied  by  Daniel  Fletcher  and  his  family 
for  some  years.  Charles  H.  Shoemaker  (son  of  Charles),  then  a  young  man, 
married  and  purchased  the  property,  living  there,  until  about  1862.  It  then 
became  the  property  of  the  late  Joshua  Francis  Fisher,  who  not  only  pur- 
chased this  farm,  but  also  that  of  William  Rowland  and  other  adjoining  land 
to  the  extent  of  about  500  acres.  This  property  of  Charles  H.  Shoemaker, 
beautifully  located,  with  its  spacious  mansion  and  out-buildings,  and  charm- 
ing lawn,  reaching  down  to  the  Tacony  Creek,  filled  with  noble  trees  and 
shrubbery,  was  the  admiration  of  all  who  travelled  the  Old  York.  It  is  now 
almost  a  ruin ;  the  house  is  there,  the  great  barn  (now  empty)  still  stands,  but 
all  neglected  and  going  to  ruin. 


90  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

On  the  same  side  of  the  turnpike,  as  we  ascend  the  hill,  are  erected  the 
strikingly  beautiful  mansion  of  George  S.  Fox,  the  banker,  and  a  little  farther 
to  the  northeast,  are  the  unique  mansions  of  his  sons  Caleb  and  F.  Morton 
Fox,  the  land  of  the  latter  extending  to  the  Old  Abington  Meeting  Road. 
The  Old  York  Road  here  runs  in  a  north  easterly  and  south  westerly  course ; 
southwest  of  the  Tacony,  was  the  old  toll  gate.  The  gate-keeper,  at  the  time 
of  which  the  writer  speaks,  was  Amos  Mitchell ;  he  lived  in  the  little  frame  toll 
house,  still  standing,  many  years,  respected  by  his  neighbors.  His  wife,  Betsy, 
was  noted  for  the  prime  quality  of  her  ginger-bread,  and  she  gave  the  good 
boys  of  the  village  frequent  opportunities  to  test  the  quality  of  her  products  in 
this  line.  It  affords  pleasure  to  the  writer,  to  add  that,  in  those  early  days, 
the  dear  old  lady  classed  him  with  those  who  came  within  her  idea  of  "  good.  " 
Both  Amos  and  Betsy  have  long  since,  "  crossed  the  border.  " 

Nearly  opposite  the  toll  house  was  the  store  of  Richard  M.  Shoemaker. 
A  large  stone  house,  still  standing,  but  now  divided  into  two  or  three 
dwellings. 

This  store  was  the  wonder  and  admiration  of  the  boys  of  the  neighbor- 
hood. It  was  an  old  fashioned  "  country  store.  "  Everything,  "  from  a  needle 
(almost)  to  an  anchor  "  was  to  be  found  in  the  varied  stock  of  that  wonderful 
curiosity  shop.  Mr.  Shoemaker  opened  this  establishment,  and  commenced 
business  there  early  in  the  century,  continuing  until  1845  or  1846.  Drugs 
were  sold.  Homeopathy  was  unknown ;  calomel,  castor  oil  and  rhubarb  were 
well  known  and  freely  used.  Senna  and  manna,  worm  tea  and  jalap  are  all 
well  remembered  by  the  writer,  who  being  a  delicate  youth,  swallowed  manj^^ 
a  bitter  dose  from  that  old  shop. 

We  now  cross  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  pike,  and  on  the  spot  where  now 
stands  the  dwelling  house,  and  store  of  A.  J.  Engle,  dwelt  Thomas  Shoemaker, 
known  as  "  Squire  Shoemaker,  "  from  the  fact  of  his  having  been  elected  to  the 
office  of  magistrate,  though  contrary  to  his  wishes.  The  offices  of  magistrate 
and  constable  were  not  "  hankered  "  after  in  those  days,  and  when  elected  the 
officers  were  loath  to  take  out  a  commission.  It  is  said  that  the  elder  Charles 
Shoemaker,  having  been  elected  to  the  office  of  magistrate,  and  refusing  to 
serve,  was  fined  for  thus  refusing. 

Within  the  recollection  of  the  writer,  there  lived  in  the  little  village  of 
Shoemakertown,  Charles,  Charles  H.,  Isaac,  John,  Richard  M.  and  Thomas 
Shoemaker.  All  the  town  was  owned  by  these  gentlemen.  Hence  the  name, 
Shoemakertovm.  For  more  than  a  century  the  village  bore  this  historic 
name.     But  in  the  year  1888,  the  name  was  changed  to  that  of  "  Ogontz.  " 

The  old  historic  name  was  abolished,  and  this  new  name,  to  all  but  a  few, 
an  unmeaning  one,  bestowed.  Many  descendants  of  the  old  family  of  Shoe- 
maker still  reside  in  the  vicinity,  and,  as  may  be  supposed,  were  bitterly 
opposed  to  giving  up  the  old  family  name,  which,  for  nearly  two  centuries 
it  had  borne.  Ogontz  was  the  name,  it  is  said,  of  an  old  Indian  Chief,  living 
in  Ohio,  near  Sandusky. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  91 

It  is  well  known  that  these  Indian  names  carry  with  them  a  meaning. 
"  Ogontz  "  means  Little  Pickerel.  Perhaps  the  Old  Chief  was  an  adept  at  fish- 
ing, and  Ihat  *'  Little  Pickerel  "  was  his  favorite  game. 

To  return  to  the  old  village  of  Shoemakertown.  On  the  corner  of  York 
Road  and  Church  Road  (the  road  leading  from  Old  Oxford  Church  to  St. 
Thomas'  Church,  near  White  Marsh)  stands  an  old  house,  in  which  once  lived 
Richard  Martin,  tanner.  This  house  is  now  occupied  as  a  hotel.  Martin's 
tan-yard,  extended  across  what  is  now  a  meadow,  nearly  or  quite  down  to  the 
creek.  Mr.  Martin  appears  to  have  done  quite  an  extensive  business  in  his 
line.  It  is  with  interest  we  have  looked  over  one  or  two  of  his  old  account 
books,  from  which  we  gather  information,  not  only  as  to  names  of  the  resi- 
dents of  the  neighborhood  in  his  day,  but  it  is  also  interesting  to  note  the 
prices  at  which  his  goods  were  sold. 

The  book  from  which  we  quote,  is  a  journal,  or  day  book,  in  which 
appear  the  daily  transactions  of  the  establishment,  both  debits  and  credits. 
The  accounts  are  kept  in  pounds,  shillings  and  pence.  The  book  commences 
with  November,  1753.  The  first  entry  is  a  charge  to  Wm.  Shoemaker,  and 
is  for  "  1  dozen  Bazels,  £1.4.0.  "  What  were  Bazels  ?  Possibly  a  tanner  can 
tell.  The  next  charge,  same  date,  is  made,  "  Isaac  Shoemaker,  Dr.  to  a  Skn. 
0.1.6.  "  In  the  volume  we  have  the  names  of  Shoemaker,  Leech,  Livezey, 
Fletcher,  Mather,  Baker,  Bartle,  Beard,  Thomas,  Bond,  Waterman  and  others. 
The  prices  of  the  various  kinds  of  leather  sold  at  that  day,  will  interest  those 
who  deal  in  such  commodities.  "  Side  of  Upper  lis.  pr.  lb.  "  "  Hump  Leather 
Is.  Id.  pr.  ft)."  "Bridle  is.  3d.  pr.  pound."  "  Curryin  two  pair  of  Boot 
Legs, "  "  Tanning  a  Hog  Skin, "  &c.  are  other  entries.  Mr.  Martin  had  a 
farm  which  he  conducted,  in  addition  to  his  tanning  business;  the  land 
extended  from  the  present  tavern  corner,  along  the  turnpike,  to  a  point  where 
now  stands  St.  Paul's  Church,  and  down  Church  Road  to  Tacony  Creek,  the 
present  Public  School  House  occupying  the  then  corner  of  the  farm. 

In  this  same  account  book  we  find  entries  for  farm  produce  sold.  "  Wheat 
for  seed  to  John  Shoemaker  at  6s.  Od.  per  bushel.  "  "  Butter  to  Robert  Wil- 
liamson Os.  lid.  "  Another  charge  for  butter,  same  date,  to  the  same  pur- 
chaser Os.  9d. — possibly  R.  W.  kept  a  boarding  house  ! 

Veal  sold  at  2J  pence  per  pound.  "  Fore  quarter  Beef,  91  R)s.,  3  pence  a 
ft).  "  "  Richard  Thomas,  pair  shoes  for  his  Negro  6d.  "  Mr.  Martin  appears 
to  have  sold  to  people  in  the  city,  to  some  whose  names  were  unknown  to  him. 
We  find  a  charge  to  the  "  Harness  maker  in  3rd  Street,  near  the  pump,  " 
another  to  the  "  Wheelwright  around  the  corner,  "  another  to  "  Shriver  the 
Charemaker,  "  "  Phillip  Winecote  left  unpaid  for  a  kip  0.  16.  0.  "  "  Daniel 
Logan  to  cash  paid  yourself.  "  And  thus  we  might  go  on  enumerating  many 
entries  which  seem  odd  at  this  day. 


Running  westerly  from  Old  York  Road,  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  at  the  new 
toll  gate  is  Spring  Avenue.     On  the  left  as  you  pass  up  are  a  number  of  pretty 


92  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

cottages.  On  the  right,  and  at  the  corner  of  White-wood  Avenue,  stands  the 
picturesque  residence  of  John  M.  Butler,  whose  wife  is  the  youngest  daughter 
of  Jay  Cooke.  Next  comes  the  new  and  very  pretty  house  of  Wm?  Nice  just 
being  completed. 

Mr.  Nice  has  built  on  a  portion  of  the  ground  which  formerly  belonged 
to  his  uncle  Harper  Nice.  On  another  part  of  this  farm,  and  also  on  Spring 
Avenue,  stands  an  old  mansion,  modernized  and  made  to  look  very  pretty. 
Owned  and  occupied  by  Mr.  Dell  Noblit,  he  having  purchased  the  property 
some  20  years  since  from  Mr.  John  Baird,  one  of  the  original  members  of  the 
Chelten  Hills  Association. 

The  property  with  the  adjoining  land,  was  purchased  by  the  .Association 
from  the  Nice  family.  When  Harper  Nice,  and  other  owners  before  him  lived 
here,  the  entrance  to  the  property  w^as  from  Grave  Yard  Lane  (now  Chelten- 
ham Avenue).  The  opening  of  Spring  Avenue,  gave  the  property  its  command- 
ing front.  The  old  lane  still  exists,  forming  a  communication  between  Chel- 
tenham and  Spring  Avenues,  and  is  known  as  Cedar  Lane. 

On  the  south  side  of  Spring  Avenue  and  opposite  Mr.  Noblit's  property, 
stands  the  imposing  cut  stone  house  of  William  Dawson,  erected  some  eight 
or  ten  years  ago.  The  ground  on  which  this  house  stands  was  formerly  a  part 
of  the  Harper  Nice  property. 

Mr.  Dawson's  house  is  on  the  summit  of  the  highest  ground  in  Chelten 
Hills  ;  not  only  the  location,  but  the  imposing  architecture  of  the  buildings 
make  it  one  of  the  most  striking  mansions  in  the  vicinity.  The  large  number 
of  chimneys  attract  the  attention  of  the  passer-by ;  there  being  an  open  fire 
place  in  each  of  the  many  rooms,  necessitates  the  existence  of  these  numerous 
flues.  They  give  the  mansion  the  appearance  of  a  public  institution.  It  is 
often  thought  to  be  the  Ogontz  Seminary  by  strangers  coming  into  the  neigh- 
borhood to  visit  that  celebrated  establishment. 

Next  to  the  Dawson  property,  on  the  west  is  the  Widener  property 
(already  described). 

On  the  east,  and  at  the  corner  of  Spring  Avenue  and  Cedar  Lane,  is  the 
pretty  cottage  property  of  Mr.  Clement  R.  Hoopes  of  the  Philadelphia  firm  of 
Hoopes  and  Townsend,  the  well  known  iron  bolt  manufacturers.  This  house 
was  built  by  Mr.  Jay  Cooke,  and  presented  to  Mrs.  Robert  Parvin,  the  widow  of 
the  first  Rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Cheltenham.  Rev.  Mr.  Parvin  resided 
in  it,  and  it  was  the  "  Rectory  of  St.  Paul's  "  until  the  more  commodius  one, 
adjoining  the  church  property  was  built  by  Wm.  G.  Moorehead  and  his 
brother-in-law,  Jay  Cooke,  and  with  the  ground,  about  three  acres,  was  pre- 
sented to  the  church. 

Rev.  Robert  Parvin  was  the  first  Rector  of  St.  Paul's  Parish.  Mr.  Parvin 
was  called  to  the  rectorship  April  9th,  1861,  and  most  faithfully  discharged 
the  duties  of  his  sacred  office,  until  December,  1866,  when  he  resigned  to 
accept  the  office  of  General  Secretary  of  the  Evangelical  Education  Society  of 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church.     He  entered  upon  his  new  work  wdth  all 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  93 

the  zeal  and  energy  of  an  enthusiast.  Leaving  his  home  about  the  1st  of 
December,  1868,  he  visited  Pittsburgh  and  Cincinnati,  leaving  the  latter  city 
for  Louisville,  Ky.,  by  steamer.  The  same  night  the  boat  on  which  he  was  a 
passenger  was  burned  and  many  lives  lost;  among  them  was  Mr.  Parvin. 

On  the  east  wall  of  the  church,  the  vestry  placed  a  tablet  of  white  marble 
bearing  the  following  inscription  : 

"  Sacred  to  the  Memory  of 

Rev.  Robert  J.  Parvin, 

Suddenly  Called  to  His  Eternal  Home, 

December  4th,  1868. 

Faithful  to  His  God.     Loyal  to  His  Country." 

Near  by  and  at  the  corner  of  Cedar  Lane  and  Cheltenham  Avenue  is  a 
stone  house  with  a  tower  at  one  corner.  This  house  was  also  built  by  Mr. 
Jay  Cooke  and  by  him  presented  to  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Richard  Newton  (his 
former  pastor)  for  a  summer  residence.  It  is  now  owned  and  occupied  by 
Benjamin  H.  Shoemaker,  Jr. 

CHELTENHAM  ACADEMY. 

J.  Calvin  Rice,  Principal.  This  institution  has  a  fine  commanding  loca- 
tion on  Cheltenham  Avenue  at  the  corner  of  Washington  Lane.  The  grounds 
compose  about  17  acres,  being  part  of  a  farm  of  100  acres,  purchased  by  the 
Chelten  Hills  Association  from  Penrose  Mather. 

The  late  Morris  L.  Hallowell  of  Philadelphia,  became  the  owner  of  these 
17  acres,  erecting  thereon  the  large,  square  stone  mansion  adjoining  the  old 
farm  house,  which  he  allowed  to  remain,  after  somewhat  changing  its  appear- 
ance by  the  addition  of  a  "  French  roof.  " 

In  1860  Mr.  Hallowell  sold  the  property  to  Mrs.  John  D.  Butler,  the 
widow  of  Col.  John  Butler  of  Georgia,  who  was  the  brother  of  Pierce  Butler, 
the  husband  of  the  talented  Fanny  Kemble. 

Mrs.  Butler  died  and  in  1872  Rev.  Samuel  Clements  purchased  the  prop- 
erty and  established  the  Cheltenham  Academy,  which  became  a  very  flourish- 
ing institution,  the  pupils  coming  from  all  parts  of  the  State.  There  were 
generally  to  be  found  in  the  school,  pupils  also  from  Cuba  and  Mexico.  Rev. 
Mr.  Clements  conducted  the  school  until  January,  1889,  when  he  died  and 
Mr.  Rice  became  the  purchaser  of  the  property  and  continues  the  school. 

Edward  Mellor  is  the  owner  of  the  property  on  the  opposite  corner,  a 
large  mansion  and  extensive  stabling  built  by  his  father,  the  late  Thomas 
Mellor,  merchant,  of  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Mellor  was  one  of  the  original  mem- 
bers of  the  Chelten  Hills  Association.     This  property  contains  about  20  acres. 


94  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

The  outlook  from  the  back  piazzas  of  the  house  is  charming,  the  valley  of  the 
Tacony,  Jenkintown,  and  beyond,  the  spire  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  at 
Mooretown  (Abington),  whilst  immediately  adjoining  are  the  grounds  of  the 
celebrated  Ogontz  School  for  Young  Ladies. 

Passing  down  Cheltenham  Avenue  to  the  east  and  on  the  same  side, 
stands  the  strikingly  beautiful  establishment  of  P.  A.  B.  Widener.  The  orig- 
inal of  this  house  was  erected  about  1860  by  a  Mr.  Bates,  who  never  occupied 
it.  After  standing  without  a  tenant  for  some  time,  it  was  rented  by  Miss 
Rachel  Carr  who  opened  a  school  for  young  ladies  (already  described).  After 
this  Dr.  Pepper  became  the  owner ;  he  sold,  in  time,  to  Charles  Richardson 
who  resided  there  some  years  and  then  removed  to  Edge  Hill  to  be  near  the 
Edge  Hill  Iron  Furnace,  of  which  he  was  the  proprietor.  Mr.  Richardson 
sold  the  property  (40  acres)  to  Mr.  Widener  who  has  added  much  to  the  size 
of  the  house,  and  so  greatly  changed  it  in  appearance  as  to  make  it  unrecog- 
nizable to  those  who  were  familiar  with  it  before.  Extensive  stabling  and 
other  buildings  make  it  one  of  the  most  valuable  properties  in  all  Chelten 
Hills. 

Opposite  to  Mr.  Widener  stands  the  cozy  residence  of  James  Day  Row- 
land, also  on  Cheltenham  Avenue.  Mr.  Rowland  built  this  house  some  16 
years  ago  and  still  resides  there. 

Next  to  Mr.  Rowland  and  on  the  same  side  of  the  road  is  the  substantial 
house  erected  by  the  late  Mr.  John  W.  Thomas  in  1866.  A  large,  plain  build- 
ing with  extensive  verandas  and  quite  a  lofty  tower. 

His  widow  still  resides  here,  having  ample  room  in  which  to  entertain 
her  children,  grandchildren  and  many  friends.  Mrs.  Thomas  is  the  mother 
of  Geo.  C.  Thomas  of  Drexel  &  Co.  the  noted  bankers,  and  also  of  the  Rev. 
Richard  Newton  Thomas,  former  Rector  of  St.  Matthias's  Church,  Philadel- 
phia, and  of  Trinity  Church  of  West  Philadelphia. 

Mr.  Thomas  purchased  the  land  on  which  the  house  is  erected  from  a 
Mr.  Simmons,  who  bought  the  farm  of  100  acres  from  Joshua  Paxson  who 
had  long  been  the  owner.  The  father  of  Mr.  Paxson  having  purchased  the 
property  from  the  heirs  of  Benjamin  Shoemaker,  who  died  in  1811  at  an 
advanced  age. 

Next  to  Mrs.  Thomas  lives  Robert  Shoemaker,  wholesale  druggist  in 
Philadelphia,  he  having  purchased  it  from  Mr.  Jay  Cooke,  in  1868.  Mr. 
Cooke  lived  here  for  the  ten  years  previous  to  his  moving  into  his  splendid 
mansion,  Ogontz.  The  dwelling  house  is  a  commodious  one,  built  of  stone 
and  "  rough  cast. "  The  grounds  are  a  part  of  the  original  farm  of  George 
Shoemaker,  Robert  Shoemaker  being  of  the  sixth  generation  from  his  ancestor. 
Thomas  E.  Shoemaker  son  of  Robert  lives  in  the  next  house  to  the  east,  while 
on  the  southerly  side,  back  from  Cheltenham  Avenue  and  fronting  on  Juniper 
Avenue,  a  beautifully  "  Telfordized  "  road,  stands  the  unique  mansion  of  Mr. 
William  L.  Elkins,  Director  of  the  Pennsylvania  Rail  Road,  as  well  as  owner 
of  Traction  Rail  Roads  in  Philadelphia,  Chicago  and  other  cities.     Mr.  Elkins 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  95 

purchased  the  property  from  Mr.  John  H.  Michener,  President  of  the  Bank  of 
North  America  and  like  his  friend  Mr.  Widener  has  expended  large  sums  of 
money  in  the  enlargement  and  beautifying  of  the  premises.  In  appearance, 
the  house  is  quite  as  striking  of  that  of  Mr.  Widener.  The  beautiful  and 
extensive  lawn,  with  its  artistically  trimmed  Norway  spruce  trees  of  great 
height,  cannot  fail  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  passer  by.  Other  noble  trees 
adorn  the  lawn,  which,  with  the  well  kept  roads  and  walks  combine  to  make 
it  one  of  the  most  beautiful  places  in  Chelten  Hills.  To  see  this  fine  property, 
one  must  leave  the  main  (Cheltenham)  Avenue,  as  Mr.  Robert  Shoemaker's 
house  is  directly  in  front  of  it,  and  cuts  off  the  view  from  the  Avenue. 

On  the  southwesterly  corner  of  York  Road  and  Cheltenham  Avenue,  (in 
travelling  through  this  charming  neighborhood,  we  are  reminded  more 
of  England,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  larger  cities  there,  than  any  other  part  of 
Pennsylvania,  if  not  any  other  rural  place  in  the  United  States,)  is  the  mansion 
and  grounds  of  Mr.  Henry  H.  Roelofs,  a  manufacturer  in  Philadelphia. 

On  the  two  sides  of  the  grounds  fronting  on  the  roads,  is  a  low  stone  wall. 
Magnificent  shade  trees  and  shrubbery  adorn  the  lawn,  a  feature  of  which,  in 
season,  is  a  fine  display  of  Rhododendrons.  A  large  "  cold  grapery,  "  looking 
like  an  immense  ship,  turned  bottom  up,  is  a  conspicuous  object.  The  whole 
country  around,  although  greatly  elevated  above  tide  water,  is  rich  in  springs 
of  purest  water,  which,  being  forced  up  into  tanks,  by  either  wind,  caloric 
or  steam  power,  furnishes  an  abundant  supply  to  the  inhabitants  of  this 
highly  favored  locality. 

Next  to  Mr.  Roelofs'  property  southwesterly,  comes  the  still  grander 
establishment  of  John  B.  Stetson,  the  father-in-law  of  Mr.  Roelofs.  The  man- 
sion, green-houses  and  other  buildings  stand  prominently  in  view  of  the  York 
Road,  on  a  beautiful  eminence.  When  Mr.  Stetson  purchased  the  grounds,  a 
heavy  growth  of  trees,  (forest  trees)  covered  them.  Employing  an  exper- 
ienced landscape  gardener,  many  of  these  were  removed,  whilst  a  great  num- 
ber still  stand  to  adorn  and  shade  one  of  the  finest  lawns  to  be  found  any- 
where in  the  County. 

At  the  foot  of  the  lawn,  between  that  and  the  road,  is  a  lake  of  pure 
water,  a  very  pretty  feature  of  the  place.  On  the  eminence,  on  which  the  house 
is  located  and  a  little  to  the  east,  stands  a  tall  green-house  for  tropical  plants. 
Mr.  Stetson  occupies  the  mansion  in  the  summer  months,  in  the  winter  he 
lives  in  Florida,  where  at  Deland,  he  has  extensive  Orange  Groves. 

The  brown  stone  house  of  Mr.  Richard  J.  Dobbins,  with  its  massive  tower 
stands  on  York  Road,  opposite  Mr.  Stetson's  place.  Mr.  Dobbins  owns  here 
about  100  acres,  the  land  extending  back  to  the  North  Pennsylvania  Rail 
Road  and  beyond  to  the  village  of  Ashbourne.  Mr.  Dobbins  purchased  this 
fine  property  from  John  Brock,  formerly  a  merchant  in  Philadelphia.  'Mr. 
Brock  having  some  years  before  bought  it  of  the  heirs  of  Samuel  T.  Leech  a 
descendant  of  Toby  Leech,  and  one  of  the  old  time  settlers  of  Cheltenham 
township. 


96  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

The  extensive  grounds  and  buildings,  all  conceived  and  carried  out  on  a 
most  generous  plan,  are  fully  equal  and  in  some  respects  exceed  in  grandeur 
any  other  place  in  the  township. 

The  property  of  the  late  Edward  M.  Davis,  Jr.,  comes  next  on  the  York 
Road,  with  heavy  woodland  front,  has  40  acres,  extending  from  the  turnpike 
back  to  the  North  Pennsylvania  Rail  Road  at  Melrose  Station. 

Mrs.  Charles  Sharpless  owns  about  60  acres,  extending  from  the  Davis' 
line  to  the  road  dividing  Montgomery  County  from  Philadelphia,  or  "  City 
Line  Road.  "  This  property,  for  many  years  in  the  past,  belonged  to  the 
Rorer  family.  Joseph  Rorer  owned  it  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century,  then 
his  son,  the  late  Benjamin  Rorer  who  died  at  a  good  old  age,  but  not  until 
after  he  had  sold  the  property  to  the  late  Thomas  Mellor,  who  in  turn  sold  to 
Thomas  Mott,  the  only  son  of  the  late  celebrated  Lucretia  Mott.  Some  few 
years  before  his  death,  Charles  Sharpless,  merchant,  of  8th  and  Chestnut 
Streets  bought  it.     The  widow  with  her  son  now  resides  here. 

The  brown  stone  mansion  built  by  Mr.  Mott,  cannot  be  seen  from  the 
road.  A  drive  in  from  the  public  road  would  repay  any  one  who  is  interested 
in  gazing  upon  substantial  and  beautiful  homes. 

The  whole  neighborhood  of  Chelten  Hills  is  beautiful.  It  is  conceded  by 
visitors  from  England  and  by  those  of  our  own  country  who  have  visited 
England,  that  they  have  met  with  no  district,  which  reminds  them  so  much 
of  the  grand,  old  country  seats  of  old  England  as  do  the  improvements  in 
Cheltenham.  The  hedges,  walls,  trees  and  shrubbery,  as  well  as  our  maca- 
damized roads,  are  quite  equal  to  any  thing  to  be  seen  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Atlantic.  We  may  lack  the  acreage,  the  parks  and  the  preserves,  which 
have  been  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation,  under  the  inheritance 
laws  of  England,  but  in  other  respects  nothing  can  be  added  to  make  the 
neighborhood  more  complete. 

THE  SHOEMAKER  BURYING  GROUND,  BY  THOMAS  H.  SHOE- 
MAKER. 

This  Burying  Ground  is  beautifully  located  on  Cheltenham  Avenue  or  as 
the  country  folks  call  it  Grave  Yard  Lane,  which  runs  from  Washington  Lane 
to  the  York  Road  in  that  unsurpassed  township  of  Cheltenham. 

The  history  of  the  Burying  Ground  dates  with  the  settlement  of  this 
section  of  the  country  and  it  is  probably  one  of  the  oldest  in  the  vicinity  of 
Philadelphia. 

While  it  is  known  as  the  Shoemaker  Burying  Ground,  it  is  not  strictly  a 
family  one,  having  been  as  we  shall  see  later,  left  for  the  use  of  members  of 
Cheltenham  Meeting  by  Richard  Wall,  the  grandfather-in-law  of  George 
Shoemaker, 

The  amount  of  ground  left  was  six  acres,  although  only  about  one  has 
been  enclosed. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  .  97 

It  is  said  that  a  meeting-house  of  logs  stood  upon  a  part  of  the  "  six  acres  " 
and  that  George  Keith  was  for  a  brief  period  an  active  minister  in  Chelten- 
ham Meeting,  that  he  left  them  and  reunited  with  the  "  Church  of  England, " 
and  that  many  members  went  with  him  uniting  with  the  church. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  a  hundred  and  fifty  or  more  years  ago,  Cheltenham 
Meeting  was  absorbed  by  Abington  Monthly  Meeting,  and  since  that  time  the 
ground  has  been  held  by  Trustees  (special)  appointed  by  that  meeting.  While 
its  possession  is  thus  in  the  Society  of  Friends,  it  is  scarcely  more  than  nomin- 
ally so,  as  for  many  years  past  it  has  been  cared  for  and  looked  after  by  a 
member  of  the  Shoemaker  family. 

Furthermore  while  others  have  the  privilege  there  are  few  interred  but 
those  bearing  the  name  of  Shoemaker,  hence  the  ground  may  virtually  be 
regarded  as  a  private  one  as  its  name  would  indicate. 

Going  back  to  the  days  when  the  country  was  a  wilderness,  we  find  on 
the  good  ship  Jeffferies  from  London  among  the  passengers  a  German  family 
bearing  the  name  of  Shoemaker,  consisting  of  George  and  Sarah  and  their 
seven  children,  George,  Barbara,  Abraham,  Isaac,  Susanna,  Elizabeth  and 
Benjamin. 

They  belonged  to  that  little  settlement  on  the  Rhine  at  Creisheim,  and 
having  been  converted  to  the  profession  of  the  Society  of  Friends  by  the 
preaching  of  William  Ames  an  English  Friend,  met  as  a  consequence  with 
much  persecution,  and  as  early  as  1663  we  find  George  being  fined  for  attend- 
ing meeting  and  his  cattle  sold. 

William  Penn,  hearing  of  their  sufferings,  visited  them  in  1680  and 
invited  them  to  immigrate  to  his  possessions  in  Pennsylvania  ;  this  led  them 
to  purchase  of  him  lands  and  the  employment  of  Pastorius  as  agent  and  the 
settlement  of  Germantown. 

With  Pastorius  and  company  in  1682  came  Jacob  Shoemaker,  in  1685 
Peter  and  family,  and  as  we  have  seen  in  1686  George  and  family ;  they  were 
probably  all  brothers.  Another  passenger  on  the  same  voyage  of  the  ship 
Jefferies  was  Richard  Wall  and  his  grand-daughter  Sarah.  He  was  an  English 
Friend  who  had  obtained  a  grant  from  Penn  of  500  acres  of  land  on  the 
Quesinoming  Creek,  now  called  Tacony,  in  what  was  then  Philadelphia 
County,  but  now  Montgomery. 

The  voyage  was  long  and  proved  disastrous  to  both  the  father  and  his 
eldest  son,  George;  the  former  died  of  small  pox  which  broke  out  on  the  ship 
and  the  latter  lost  his  heart  to  the  pretty  English  maiden,  and  they  were 
betrothed. 

Upon  landing  at  Philadelphia  3rd  month  26th,  1686,  the  widow  with  her 
family  went  at  once  to  Germantown  where  their  relatives  had  preceded  them, 
and  George  as  the  oldest  squ  dutifully  assisted  his  mother  until  the  family 
grew  up. 

Isaac  was  the  first  to  marry  and  selected  Sarah,  daughter  of  Gerhard 
Hendricks,  who  had  drawn  lot  No.  8,  an  account  of  whom  has  been  published 
7 


98  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

in  a  previous  article.  (See  Hotchkin's  Germantown).  His  house  and  farm  build- 
ings were  in  the  meadow  at  Wingohicking  station,  the  "Rock  house"  being 
the  last  of  them  left,  and  believed  to  be  the  oldest  house  now  in  Philadelphia, 
the  dwelling  being  torn  down  in  1840. 

Benjamin  the  counselor  was  a  son,  and  Samuel,  the  Mayor  of  Philadel- 
phia, the  grandson  of  the  above  Susanna ;  George's  sister  married  Isaac  Price, 
1st  month  4th,  1696,  and  the  wedding  took  place  according  to  the  order  of 
Friends  at  the  house  of  Richard  Wall,  where,  owing  to  the  lack  of  a  meeting 
house,  gatherings  for  religious  worship  were  held. 

After  eight  years  of  patient  waiting,  George  felt  he  was  able  to  fulfil  the 
vows  made  at  sea,  and  accordingly  at  Richard  Wall's  house  at  Cheltenham 
he  was  married  to  Sarah,  who  was  the  only  heir  to  her  grandfather's  estate. 

The  venerable  old  marriage  certificate  is  still  owned  by  one  of  the  descend- 
ants; it  is  dated  12th  month,  14th,  1694  and  commences  "Whereas  George 
Shoemaker  and  Sarah  Wall,  both  of  the  township  of  Cheltenham,  in  the 
County  of  Phylladelfia,  having  declared  theyre  intentions  of  taking  each  other 
as  husband  and  wife,  before  several  publique  men  and  womens  meetings  of  the 
people  of  God  called  Quakers,  according  to  the  good  order  and  use  Amongst 
them  whose  proceedings,  etc.,  etc.  " 

George  signs  it  in  his  native  German  script ;  Sarah  attaches  her  new  name 
in  English,  in  a  bold,  clear  hand. 

Their  home  thereafter  was  probably  with  Richard  Wall  and  most  likely 
was  the  house,  or  rather  a  portion  of  it,  now  occupied  by  Joseph  Bosler,  as  we 
find  in  1711,  in  the  laying  out  of  York  Road  George  Shoemaker  was  a  juror 
and  that  it  passed  close  by  his  door. 

In  a  few  years  after  his  grand-daughter's  marriage,  Richard  found  his 
health  failing  and  made  his  will,  which  begins  as  follows : 

"  In  the  name  of  God,  Amen,  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  first  month  Anno 
Domini  1697-8,  I  Richard  Wall  being  weak  in  body,  but  of  perfect  mind  and 
memory,  thanks  be  the  Lord  for  it,  do  hereby  make  and  ordain  this  my  last 
Will  and  Testament,  that  is  to  say : 

"  Principally  and  first  of  all,  I  recommend  my  soul  and  spirit  unto  the 
hands  of  our  faithful  Creator  and  Saviour,  my  body  to  be  buried  in  a  Christian- 
like and  decent  manner  at  the  discretion  of  my  dear  wife  and  executrix,  and 
as  to  touching  such  worldly  estate  wherewith  it  hath  pleased  God  to  bless  me 
in  this  wilderness,  I  dispose  of  the  same  in  the  following  way  and  form. " 

He  leaves  his  wife  a  life  interest,  and  at  her  death  everything  to  his 
grand-daughter  Sarah  Shoemaker ;  in  the  event  of  her  death  without  issue 
then  his  property  is  left  "  to  the  disposal  of  the  monthly  meeting  I  now 
belong  to. " 

He  then  goes  on  with  what  more  particularly  concerns  us. 

"  Item.  I  freely  give  and  bequeath  unto  Friends  of  Cheltenham  Meeting 
a,  certain  tract  of  land  containing  about  six  acres,  lying  and  being  at  the  south- 
west end  of  s'd  my  plantation,  and  this  piece  of  land  I  give  for  a  burying 


"Roadside,     formerly  the  Residence  of  Lucretia  Mott. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  101 

place  and  for  the  only  and  sole  use  of  Friends  of  the  now  mentioned  Chelten- 
ham Meeting. " 

The  exact  date  of  Richard's  death  is  not  known  but  it  was  some  time 
previous  to  1702 ;  his  grave  was  no  doubt  the  first  made  in  the  new  ground, 
and  it  and  his  wife's  are  believed  to  be  marked  by  some  old  and  very  large 
box-bushes ;  certain  it  is  that  very  few  stones  appear  to  mark  the  last  resting 
place  of  the  long  line  of  the  family  which  lie  here  so  peacefully. 

The  earliest  stone  is  that  of  Isaac,  with  the  date  of  8th  month,  23rd,  1741, 
but  Friends  in  those  early  days  did  not  approve  of  such  distinctions,  and  in 
their  public  grounds  buried  in  rows,  with  nothing  but  mounds,  and  numbers 
to  designate  in  their  record  books  the  name  of  the  individual. 

Dorothy  Shoemaker,  widow  of  Isaac,  spoken  of  above,  was  a  woman  of 
more  than  ordinary  thrift  and  enterprise,  as  five  years  after  her  husband's 
death  ,we  find  her  entering  into  the  following  agreement : 

"  Articles  of  agreement  mutually  made,  concluded,  and  agreed  upon  ye 
sixth  day  of  November,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  forty-six,  between  Dorothy  Shoemaker  of  Cheltenham,  in  ye  County  of 
Philadelphia  in  ye  Province  of  Pennsylvania.  Widdow  of  ye  one  part,  Richard 
Mather,  of  ye  same  place,  yeoman  of  ye  second  part  and  John  Tyson  of 
Abington  of  ye  s'd  county,  yeoman  of  ye  third  part. 

"  Witnesseth  that  there  is  a  proposal  made  between  ye  s'd  parties  for  build- 
ing -or  erecting  on  ye  land  now  in  ye  tenure  or  possession  of  ye  said  Dorothy 
Shoemaker  in  ye  said  Township  of  Cheltenham,  a  corn-grist  water  mill,  to  be 
built  jointly,  and  in  partnership  between  ye  said  parties. " 

It  goes  on  to  say  Dorothy  has  a  half  interest  and  the  men  a  quarter  each, 
in  the  mill  which  was  located  at  a  place  in  the  "  crick,  opposite  ye  s'd 
Dorothy's  present  garden,  commonly  called  and  known  by  the  name  of  ye 
Sheeps- Washing-Place,  and  from  thence  (the  dam)  to  extend  down  ye  east 
side  of  ye  s'd  crick  to  the  fording-place  of  s'd  in  ye  York  Road.  " 

Shortly  after,  her  sons  joined  her,  purchasing  Mather's  and  Tyson's  shares, 
and  the  mill  remained  in  possession  of  the  family  until  1847,  a  little  more 
than  a  century,  when  it  was  bought  at  public  sale  by  the  late  Charles  Rosier. 

The  old  Cheltenham  Mill  or  as  it  was  often  called  Shoemaker's  Mill,  was 
a  well-known  land-mark  in  that  section  of  the  country,  and  was  in  its  day 
considered  a  very  fine  property. 

The  settlement  which  grew  up  here  was  known  as  Shoemakertown  and 
for  nearly  two  centuries  has  this  name  answered  well  its  purpose. 

During  the  past  year  however,  some  persons,  new-comers  to  the  place  no 
doubt,  without  veneration  for  the  past  and  with  little  regard  for  its  appro- 
priateness, have  succeeded  in  having  the  meaningless  one  of  Ogontz  sub- 
stituted. 

Thus  the  old  names  full  of  historic  interests  and  associations  are  done 
away  with  to  make  room  for  others  supposed  to  be  more  euphonious.  The 
descendants  of  this  branch  have  scattered  somewhat,  while  a  number  still  live 


102  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

in  the  neighborhood,  and  those  bearing  the  name  in  Germantown  belong  to 
it,  others  have  carried  it  as  far  as  California,  several  live  near  Washington, 
descendants  of  David  Shoemaker  who  at  about  the  age  of  75  was  drowned  in 
the  Potomac  while  swimming  in  company  with  President  Adams. 

THE  EARLY  SCHOOL  DAYS  OF  A  SHOEMAKERTOWN  BOY,  BY 

ROBERT  SHOEMAKER. 

There  stands  on  the  Old  York  Road,  at  the  corner  of  Church  Road 
(sometimes  called  Frankford  Road),  opposite  the  tavern,  in  the  ancient 
village  of  Shoemakertown,  a  two-story  stone  house  of  modest  dimensions, 
without  piazza  or  portico,  still  in  an  excellent  state  of  preservation,  having 
been  built  in  the  honest  way  of  long  ago  by  men  who  knew  their  business 
and  used  the  best  material.  All  "hand  work."  "Door  and  sash  mills" 
did  not  exist  at  the  time  in  which  this  house  was  built. 

Samuel  Pool,  a  carpenter  and  builder,  is  the  present  occupant.  Sixty- 
five  years  ago — or  say  in  1825 — a  school  for  the  children  of  the  village 
was  held  in  this  house.  The  teacher  was  Mary  S.  Hallowell,  who  in 
later  years  married  Isaac  Lippincott,  of  Moorestown,  New  Jersey.  At 
Moorestown  Mrs.  Lippincott  established  and  conducted  for  many  years  a 
boarding  school,  which  was  quite  celebrated  for  the  thoroughness  of  the 
work  done  there.  She  was  assisted  by  an  able  corps  of  teachers;  many 
ladies  now  resident  in  Cheltenham  and.  elsewhere  will,  in  reading  these 
lines,  call  to  mind  the  amiable  and  loving  teacher  of  their  younger  days. 
Mary  Shoemaker  Lippincott  (her  full  name)  was  for  many  years  a  minister 
in  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  was  for  a  long  time  clerk  of  the  "  Women's 
Meeting "  of  Philadelphia  Yearly  Meeting,  being  annually  appointed,  year 
after  year,  to  that  important  station.  She  lived  to  the  age  of  88  years, 
and  died  in  1888  at  Camden,  New  Jersey.  She  was  a  grand-daughter  of 
Benjamin  Shoemaker,  one  of  the  early  residents  of  Shoemakertown. 

But  to  return  to  the  old  stone  house  on  York  Road,  where,  in  1824-5, 
this  good  woman  taught  the  little  children  of  the  village.  The  writer 
was  one  of  her  pupils,  and  at  this  late  day  looks  back  with  pleasure,  as 
he  remembers  this  dear  teacher,  her  tender,  kind  way  of  dealing  with 
the  children  under  her  care,  the  patient  hearing  she  gave  us,  as  we  spelled 
out  the  words  of  our  lessons  or  "made  marks"  on  our  slates — all  comes 
up  as  we  write  of  this  little  school.  Our  teacher  would  sometimes  draw 
some  simple  figure,  as  of  a  dog,  cat,  or  even  a  horse,  as  a  copy.  It  is  to 
be  regretted  that  none  of  these  specimens,  save  one,  have  been  preserved. 
But  the  writer  has  in  his  possession  a  little  blank-book  made  by  this 
teacher,  painted  in  water  colors — figures  of  birds  and  flowers,  dated  1825 — 
and  which  was  given  him  as  a  prize  for  either  good  behavior  or  know- 
ing his  lessons.  The  school  was  small  in  numbers  and  in  stature  of  pupils. 
The  writer  cannot  recall  to  mind  any  one  of  his  fellow-pupils  now  living. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  103 

Leaving  Shoemakertown,  Miss  Hallowell  went  to  a  Friends'  boarding 
school  in  Rensellaer  County,  New  York,  and  married  from  there.  Leaving 
the  little  school  in  Shoemakertown,  the  writer  became  a  pupil  of  Abington 
Friends'  School.  The  school  house,  still  standing,  is  situated  on  the  ample 
grounds  of  the  well-known  Abington  Meeting.  The  distance  from  our 
home  in  Shoemakertown  was  about  one  and  a  half  miles,  and  this  was 
travelled  each  day  in  all  kinds  of  weather. 

Holidays  at  that  period  were  less  frequent  than  now,  school  continuing 
every  day,  "  seventh  day  "  included,  except  monthly  and  quarterly  meeting 
days.  The  summer  holiday  or  vacation  was,  I  think,  only  two  weeks.  The 
hours  for  school  in  summer  8  to  12,  noon  recess;  assemble  again  at  2  P. 
M. ;   dismiss  at  4  in  winter  and  5  in  summer. 

"  Fifth  day,"  the  mid-week  meeting  day,  the  entire  school,  both  boys 
and  girls,  were  obliged  to  attend  meeting  in  a  body,  the  boys,  of  course, 
on  the  "  men's  side,"  the  girls  on  the  "  women's  side."  Sitting  out  the 
hour  or  longer,  often  in  silence,  was  a  pretty  severe  test  to  the  patience  of 
us  boys,  and  "keeping  in,"  and  sometimes  punishment  more  severe,  was 
the  penalty  incurred  for  misbehavior  in  meeting.  The  back-rail  of  those 
old  benches,  if  still  in  existence,  bear  the  marks  of  many  a  pen-knife  cut 
during  the  hour  for  worship.  As  we  write,  the  names  of  many  of  the  old 
Friends  who  sat  on  the  upper  seats,  ministers,  elders  and  overseers — Benja- 
min Bryan,  Samuel  Schofield,  John  J.  and  John  L.  Williams,  the  Shoema- 
ker's, Hallowell's,  Michener's,  Satterthwait,  Stackhouse,  and  others  present 
themselves — the  most  of  them,  we  might  say  all,  have  passed  away,  the 
neat  head-stone  marking  the  resting  place  in  the  adjoining  burial  ground 
of  the  entire  meeting  as  then  constituted.  The  scholars,  who  were  they? 
The  sons  and  daughters  of  the  members  of  the  meeting,  so  that  the  same 
names  of  those  composing  the  meeting  are  applicable  to  the  school.  In 
the  summer  season  Abington  School  occupied  two  rooms,  one  for  girls  in 
the  second  story,  on  the  main  floor,  that  for  boys.  In  the  winter  boys  and 
girls  met  in  the  same  room,  the  teacher  of  the  boys'  school  having  charge. 

George  S.  Roberts  was  the  teacher  at  the  time  of  which  we  write.  He 
had  the  reputation  of  being  an  expert  in  mathematics,  and  generally  had 
a  class  of  the  older  pupils.  He  was  obliged  to  give  attention,  however,  to 
each  branch  of  study.  He  was  a  nervous  man,  easily  irritated  by  any 
misbehavior  on  the  part  of  the  scholars,  fancied  or  otherwise.  This 
was  before  the  day  of  steel  pens;  very  few  of  the  scholars  were  able 
to  make  or  "  mend  "  the  quill  pens  used  by  all.  In  the  writing  hour 
Mr.  Roberts  paced  up  and  down  the  aisles  back  of  the  boys,  pen-knife 
in  hand,  and  often,  when  he  found  a  scholar  not  doing  his  duty — as 
he  construed  it — the  handle  of  the  knife  would  (he  on  such  occasions 
holding  it  by  the  blade)  come  down,  suddenly  and  hard,  on  the  head 
of  the  delinquent.  Some  attempt'  was  made  at  drawing,  always  using  a 
slate   and   pencil.     On   one   occasion   this   irate   teacher,  coming   unexpect- 


104  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

edly  to  the  seat  of  the  writer  (then  a  boy  of  10  or  11  years),  asked  what 
the  picture  on  the  .slate  was  meant  to  be;  the  reply  was,  "a  house  and 
a  dog."  '*  Yes,  yes;  I  see  the  house,  but  where  is  the  dog?"  "Behind 
the   house,"  was  the   reply,  which  brought  the  usual  reward   of  a  whack. 

Should  these  lines  meet  the  eye  of  the  Charley  Stackhouse  whose 
seat  was  next  to  mine  on  the  old  backless  bench,  he  may  recall  a  pain- 
ful circumstance.  It  was  in  the  early  summer,  at  "  noon ; "  we  gathered 
cherries,  a  part  of  which  we  smuggled  into  the  school  room,  keeping  an 
eye  on  the  teacher,  and  on  opportunity  swallowing  a  cherry,  but  not  the 
stone ;  nothing  was  easier  than  to  press  the  slimy  stone  between  thumb  and 
finger,  allowing  it  to  cross  the  room  with  considerable  force,  not  caring  who 
was  struck.  Unfortunately  one  of  these  missiles  accidentally  came  in  contact 
with  the  nose  of  dear  teacher.  Looking  to  where  we  sat,  he  knew  it  was 
one  of  us  two  who  had  committed  the  act  of  "  shooting  a  cherry  stone  " 
at  his  face.  Neither  would  tell  on  the  other,  so  we  were  both  ordered  up 
to  the  "  master's  platform,"  where,  in  turn,  we  received  the  severest  flogging 
I  ever  experienced. 

After  school  we,  the  punished  pair,  entered  into  a  solemn  conspiracy 
that  when  we  grew  to  be  large  enough  we  would  get  satisfaction  out  of  him. 

I  know  not  where  Stackhouse  is  now,  or  whether  he  is  living,  but 
years  after,  when  I  had  become  a  man,  meeting  my  old  teacher,  I  remem- 
bered the  flogging  and  the  threat  that  we  would  some  day  have  satisfac- 
tion, and  told  the  old  gentleman  of  our  bargain.  He  expressed  himself  as 
being  ready  to  meet  us  at  our  convenience.  Poor  old  man ;  removing  to 
the  cit}"  he  opened  an  "  English  and  Mathematical  Academy,"  and  after  a 
continuance  of  a  few  years  died  very  suddenly.  He  was  buried  in  the  old 
Abington  Friends'  ground.  I  have  frequently  passed  by  his  grave  and  read 
"  George  S.  Roberts  "  on  the  small  head-stone,  but  never  without  thinking 
of  that  cherry  stone. 

The  "  separation "  in  the  Society  of  Friends  occurred  in  1827. 
Orthodox  Friends,  generally,  removed  their  children  from  the  old  Abing- 
ton  School. 

In  1828  Solomon  Jones,  formerly  a  teacher  at  the  old  "  eight  square  " 
school  house,  opened  a  school  for  these  children  at  his  residence,  on  the 
Cheltenham  side  of  Oak  Lane,  at  the  intersection  of  New  Second  Street 
Road. 

The  next  three  years  of  the  writer's  school  life  were  spent  at  this  school. 
Each  morning,  winter  and  summer,  the  long  walk  from  Shoemakertown 
was  taken.  An  arrangement  was  made,  however,  that  should  a  storm  come 
up  on  any  day,  making  it  difficult  to  return  to  our  home,  we  were  to 
remain  all  night  at  Mr.  Jones'  house.  Such  nights  were  hailed  with 
delight.  My  old  friend  and  fellow-pupil,  Josiah  Jones,  the  eldest  son  of 
the  principal,  still  living  near  the  old  mansion  of  his  father,  was  my 
particular  chum,  and   he   will   endorse   my  statement  when  I  say  we  had 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  105 

happy  times.  The  splendid  rye  bread  and  honey  for  supper — the  bees  of 
the  present  day  fail  to  produce  that  delightful  flavor  possessed  by  the 
honey  of  sixty  years  ago.     Why  is  it? 

Solomon  Jones,  though  paralyzed  in  his  lower  limbs  and  compelled 
to  use  a  crutch  in  walking,  had  the  free  use  of  his  arms,  as  pupils  yet 
living  can  testify.     But  he  was  a  grand  old  man  and  a  thorough  teacher. 

The  "  examples "  still  in  my  possession  remind  me  forcibly  of  the 
lessons  of  that  day.  How  the  first  class  worked  over  those  geometrical 
problems — with  what  interest  and  success  my  fellow-pupil  in  that  class 
can  affirm.  There  were  six  or  eight  of  us;  he  and  I  are,  I  believe, 
the  only  two  now  living.  The  books  in  use  in  the  school  at  that  day, 
beside  the  "  primer,"  as  reading  books,  were  the  "  Introduction,"  "  English 
Reader,"  and  Murray's  Sequel."  Then  "  Comly's  Grammar,"  "  Pike's  Arith- 
metic," "  Bonnycastle's  Mensuration,"  and  "  Gummere's  Surveying."  Geog- 
raphy did  not  occupy  the  prominent  place  of  to-day.  Considerable  attention 
was  given  to  writing ;  and  we  had  an  interesting  botany  class,  which,  in 
season,  made  trips  of  great  interest  in  the  neighboring  fields  and  woods. 
Boys  of  that  day  were  much  like  those  of  the  present,  always  ready  for  fun 
and  sport.  Were  I  to  relate  the  tricks  and  mischief  indulged  in,  the  initia- 
tion of  new-comers  to  the  school  and  many  naughty  things,  which,  even 
now,  come  to  my  mind,  no  good  purpose  would  be  served,  and  they  might 
be  thought  more  proper  for  such  a  book  as  the  "  Bad  Boy  "  and  the  like. 
But  few,  very  few,  of  the  pupils  in  attendance  at  that  school  at  the  time 
of  which  we  write,  are  now  living.  The  school  was  a  large  one.  Although 
still  a  resident  of  the  township,  we  are  able  to  count,  with  the  writer,  only 
six  still  living.  But  we  do  know  many  of  the  children  and  grand-children 
of  our  schoolmates  of  that  day. 

In  the  fall  of  1831  the  writer  left  the  school  and  entered  upon  the  pro- 
fession of  his  choice,  in  which  he  is  still  engaged,  and  has  been  continuously 
all  the  sixty-two  years  which  have  since  passed,  and  in  all  that  time  has 
been  in  but  two  stores,  twenty-five  years  in  the  first,  where  he  entered  to 
learn  the  business  of  a  chemist  and  apothecary,  and  the  remaining  thirty- 
six  years  in  his  present  location. 

Josiah  Jones  died  March,  1892. 

MISS  RACHEL  S.  CARR,  BY  ROBERT  SHOEMAKER. 

This  lady  kept  a  select  school  in  Philadelphia,  in  connection  with — I 
think — her  sister.  Miss  Ann  Jane  Carr. 

They  were  both  members  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Philadelphia,  at  the 
time  Dr.  Richard  Newton  was  its  pastor. 

In  the  year  1861,  Messrs.  John  W.  Thomas  and  Jay  Cooke,  former  members 
of  St.  Paul's,  arranged  with  Miss  Carr  to  open  a  boarding  and  day  school 
on  Chelten  Hills,  and  secured  for  her  the  new  stone  residence  of  Mr.  Bates, 


106  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

"  Linwood  Hall."  This  fine  mansion  was  on  Cheltenham  Avenue,  almost 
opposite  the  residences  of  John  W.  Thomas  and  Jay  Cooke.  The  building 
had  been  completed  by  Mr.  Bates  but  never  occupied  by  the  family,  who 
preferred  a  residence  abroad.  It  stands  upon  an  eminence  just  back  from 
the  road,  and  with  its  twenty  acres  of  lawn,  garden,  and  noble  trees,  together 
with  the  additions  and  adornments  lately  added  by  its  present  owner,  Mr. 
P.  A.  Widener,  presents  one  of  the  most  strikingly  beautiful  among  the 
many  attractive  places  in  the  vicinity. 

In  this  fine  building  the  daughters  of  Messrs.  Thomas  and  Cooke,  with 
about  twenty  others,  were  educated.  The  school  at  times  was  very  flour- 
ishing, having  as  high  as  twenty-eight  boarders  and  twelve  or  fifteen  day 
scholars. 

"Linwood  Hall"  was  purchased  by  the  late  Dr.  Pepper,  who  resided 
there  several  years,  adding  by  purchase  twenty  acres  more  of  land  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  road. 

Miss  Carr  then  removed  her  school  to  "  Eildon,"  a  beautiful  spot  on 
the  York  Road  near  the  railroad  station  of  that  name,  a  property  owned 
by  Mr.  Jay  Cooke,  formerly  the  country  seat  of  the  now  venerable  Frederick 
Fraley. 

The  large  house  then  standing,  after  Miss  Carr's  occupancy,  became  the 
property  of  Mrs.  C.  D.  Barney,  daughter  of  Mr.  Cooke,  and  was  burned  down 
a  few  years  since  and  replaced  by  the  present  large  and  beautiful  mansion 
of  Mr.  C.  D.  Barney.  Miss  Carr's  school  flourished  here  several  years,  until, 
in  1878,  she  celebrated  her  fiftieth  anniversary  as  a  teacher,  and  retired 
from  her  educational  career. 

She  enjoyed  for  a  few  years  her  well-earned  rest  and  honoi*s,  and  died 
on  the  28th  day  of  September,  1884,  in  the  80th  year  of  her  age.  Her 
remains  rest  in  the  peaceful,  beautiful  graveyard  of  St.  Paul's  Church, 
Cheltenham. 

Miss  Carr  was  a  bright,  cheerful.  Christian  woman.  She  seemed,  in  her 
last  years,  to  patiently  wait  for  the  Master's  call,  her  life  work  finished.  Upon 
giving  up  her  school  she  remarked  to  one  to  whom  she  entrusted  her 
savings:  "The  interest  on  this  will  not  be  sufficient  for  my  support,  of 
course.  I  will  be  obliged,  therefore,  to  draw  on  the  principal;  it  will  last 
as  long  as  I  desire ;  I  want  to  live  no  longer." 

On  the  occasion  of  the  completion  of  the  burial  ground  attached  to 
St.  Paul's  Church,  Cheltenham,  she  said  to  the  writer,  "here  I  want  to  be 

buried ; "    naming   a  friend,  she   added  :     "  She  owned  a  lot  in  the  

Cemetery,  a  lone  woman,  like  myself,  and  is  buried  there.  She  desired 
that  my  remains  might  be  interred  by  the  side  of  hers.  But,"  she  added, 
"my  friend  died  of  smallpox,  and  of  course,  when  I  die,  I  do  not  want  to 
lie  in  her  lot."  The  risk  of  contagion  would  not  have  been  great,  her 
friend  having  died  many  years  before.  But  Miss  Carr  was  fond  of  saying 
odd  things.     I  remember  once,  in  a  company  of  young  people,  her  reprov- 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  107 

ing  a  young  man  who  had  made  himself  somewhat  conspicuous  by  saying 
"  how  absurdly  absurd  you  are." 

After  closing  her  school  duties  Miss  Carr  paid  a  visit  to   Ireland  and 
took  great  pleasure  in  visiting  the  "  Green  Isle." 


CHELTEN  HILLS,  MONTGOMERY  COUNTY,  PA. 

In  and  up  to  1850  or  thereabouts,  what  is  now  called  Chelten  Hills 
was  owned  and  settled  by  Quaker  farmers,  whose  ancestry  came  over  with 
William  Penn. 

The  township  of  Cheltenham  is  a  long,  narrow  one  and  stretches  just  out- 
side the  northern  boundary  of  Philadelphia  County,  in  Montgomery  County. 

Its  name  is  derived  from  Cheltenham  in  England,  either  from  the  fact 
that  its  settlers  came  from  that  part  of  old  England,  or  because  of  a  similarity 
in  soil  and  topography.  The  Township  never  contained  a  tavern,  or  drinking 
place  until  a  very  few  years  since,  and  is  yet  distinguished  for  its  Quaker-like 
sobriety,  temperance,  Sabbath  keeping,  &c. 

The  original  title  deeds  to  the  farms  are  all  signed  by  William  Penn, 
whose  country  residence  still  stands  on  old  Church  Road,  near  Myers'  Mill  in 
the  township,  and  near  by  the  ruins  of  the  old  bake  ovens,  where  it  is  said, 
the  hard  bread  was  baked  for  William  Penn's  sea  voyages.  The  Township 
is  undulating,  well  wooded  and  watered,  and  everywhere  are  found  the  old 
Quaker  spring  houses,  covering  natural  springs.  Tacony  Creek,  Culp's  Run 
and  several  other  streams  rise  and  flow  through  the  Township. 

The  Old  York  Road,  which  before  the  days  of  rail  roads  was  the  original 
stage  route  between  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  passes  northwardly  through 
the  Township  near  its  center  and  the  Second  Street  pike  is  nearly  on  its  east- 
ern border.  Shoemakertown  and  Cheltenham,  two  little  villages,  were  up  to  a 
very  recent  period,  the  only  attempts  to  centralize  the  population  and  these 
consisted  only  of  a  blacksmith  shop,  a  store  and  a  few  humble  and  quite  ancient 
houses.  About  one  thousand  acres  of  Quaker  farms,  comprising  the  most 
hilly  and  picturesque  portions  of  the  Township,  and  lying  west  of  York  Road, 
arid  east  of  Washingtori  Lane  and  between  the  City  Line  and  Jenkintown, 
were  purchased  by  a  syndicate  (this  term  was  then  unknown)  consisting  of 
Edw.  M.  Davis,  Morris  L.  Hallowell,  John  W.  Thomas,  Frederick  Fraley,  etc., 
who  divided  up  the  farms,  each  appropriating  one  of  the  original  sites,  and 
remodeling  the  old  buildings,  and  erecting  in  the  course  of  time  some  new 
ones.  But  it  was  not  until  after  the  war  of  1861-65,  that  any  great  progress 
was  made. 

The  village  of  Ashbourne  was  then  without  existence,  but  is  now  (1887) 
quite  a  town  with  Rail  Way  Station,  Stone  Church,  Streets,  Schools,  and  a 
large  population.  It  was  originally  called  Bounty  Town,  from  the  fact  that 
the  returning  soldiers  who  had  saved  their  bounties  and  wages  built  humble 


108  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

homes  there,  some  of  them  purchasing  a  part  of  the  old  farm,  and  cutting  it 
up  into  building  lots. 

St.  Paul's  P.  E.  Church  was  organized  by  Jay  Cooke,  John  W.  Thomas, 
Robert  Shoemaker,  Frederick  Fraley,  and  others,  most  of  whom  had  been 
members  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Philadelphia,  under  Dr.  Newton's  ministry. 

The  corner  stone  was  laid  1860  by  Bishop  Alonzo  Potter  and  the  church 
was  completed  early  in  1861,  and  its  first  Rector  was  the  Rev.  Robt.  J.  Parvin, 
who  devoted  his  efforts  even  while  Rector,  to  the  patriotic  work  of  visiting 
the  army  in  the  field  as  a  delegate  to  the  Christian  Commission.  The  second 
Rector,  Dr.  E.  W.  Appleton  is  still  in  charge.  The  church  has  been  more 
than  doubled  in  size  and  has  a  couple  of  towers,  a  transept  for  organ  and 
choir,  clock,  chimes  of  bells,  (striking  every  quarter  of  an  hour),  church  yard, 
carriage  sheds,  hall  for  fairs,  entertainments,  &c.,  sexton's  house,  gas  and 
water  works,  vestry  room,  Bible  class,  Sunday  School,  Infant  School,  and 
library  rooms,  &c.,  and  is  said  to  more  nearly  resemble,  an  old  English  church 
than  any  other  in  the  country.  It  is  also  the  owner  of  about  five  acres  of 
land.  Upon  this  a  rectory,  stables,  garden,  &c.  are  placed.  A  stream  runs  at 
the  lower  end  and  the  rector's  cow  has  fine  pasturage  grounds.  The  whole  is 
surrounded  by  a  hedge.  In  the  early  part  of  the  war,  the  first  negro  camp 
was  established  in  Cheltenham,  where  at  least  ten  thousand  colored  soldiers, 
were  drilled  and  prepared  for  service  in  the  army.  .  The  pastor  and  members 
of  St.  Paul's  Church  established  services  and  preaching  and  Bible  Classes  at  this 
camp,  and  distributed  books,  papers  and  tracts  amongst  the  soldiers.  The 
famous  Lucretia  Mott  and  her  husband  James  Mott,  were  residents  of  Chelten 
Hills  and  it  was  probably  owing  to  the  efforts  of  their  son  Edw.  M.  Davis,  also 
a  noted  abolitionist  that  the  negro  camp  was  established  at  Chelten  Hills  and 
upon  grounds  near  their  residence.  The  old  burying  ground  of  the  Quakers 
is  still  preserved  and  lies  on  Grave  Yard  Lane,  now  known  as  Chelten  Avenue 
and  in  it  lie  buried  many  of  those  who  came  over  with  William  Penn. 

The  original  one  thousand  acres  were  laid  out  in  lots  of  from  five  to  fifty 
acres  according  to  the  lay  of  the  land,  and  the  new  roads  were  graded  to  cor- 
respond and  give  access  to  each  plant,  and  named,  Chelten  Avenue,  Cedar 
Avenue,  Whitehood  Avenue,  Spring  Avenue,  Serpentine  Avenue,  Rock  Lane, 
&c.,  &c.  The  ground  lies  nearly  five  hundred  feet  above  the  city  of  Philadel- 
phia, and  slopes  towards  the  Delaware  River,  which  is  nearly  six  miles 
distant. 

In  addition  to  the  old  farm  houses  many  of  which  are  still  retained,  a 
large  number  of  new  and  beautiful  mansions  have  been  built,  and  amongst 
these  the  residence  of  Jay  Cooke,  known  as  Ogontz. 

This  magnificent  palace-like  place,  with  its  two  hundred  acres  of  forest 
and  stream,  lawns  and  farms,  when  first  occupied,  cost  including  its  furniture, 
pictures,  green  houses,  fountains,  &c.,  about  one  million  of  dollars.  Mr.  Cooke 
has  recently  refurnished  it  and  has  rented  it  to  Misses  Bonney,  Dillaye,  &c., 
who  occupy  it  and  a  part  of  the  grounds  as  a  school  for  young  ladies.     It  is 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  *  109 

acknowledged  to  be  the  first  of  its  kind  in  the  country,  and  is  full  to  over- 
flowing with  young  ladies  from  all  parts  of  the  land. 

The  old  Grist  Mill  on  the  Ogontz  place,  is  the  original  mill  where  the 
early  Quaker  settlers  used  to  grind  their  corn  and  wheat.  A  spring  under 
this  mill  raised  to  the  mansion  by  steam  power,  furnishes  it  with  a  never 
failing  supply  of  the  purest  and  sweetest  water. 

Cheltenham  Academy  under  the  charge  of  Mr.  Jno.  Calvin  Rice,  is  near 
by  and  is  a  celebrated  school  for  boys,  and  is  also  prosperous.  Eildon  the 
residence  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Chas.  D.  Barney,  the  original  farm  building  having 
been  added  to  by  Mr.  Frederick  Fraley  and  long  occupied  by  him  after  being 
purchased  and  occupied  by  Mr.  Barney,  was  burned  but  rebuilt  in  1881,  and 
is  one  of  the  finest  and  most  complete  residences  at  Chelten  Hills. 

Terrace  Holm  is  the  beautiful  residence  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  M.  Butler, 
close  by  Eildon.  Jacob  Loeb's  residence  near  by  at  York  Road  Station  has 
a  beautiful  situation  and  is  a  fine  home.  Dell  Noblitt,  Jr's.  residence  and 
those  of  Mr.  P.  A.  B.  Widener  (Linwood)  Mrs.  John  W.  Thomas,  (Bloomfield). 
Mr.  Dawson's,  Mr.  Jay  Cooke  Jr's.,  (Chestnut  Wood)  and  many  more  modern 
and  very  beautiful  residences,  cannot  be  surpassed  in  any  neighborhood 
surrounding  Philadelphia. 

All  of  them  are  complete  in  green  houses,  gas  and  water  works,  ponds,  &c. 

"  The  Cedars  "  which  was  long  the  residence  of  the  author  of  this  descrip- 
tion, is  now  the  home  of  Mr.  Robert  Shoemaker,  whose  ancestors  owned  the 
four  farms  adjoining  Shoemakertown,  and  had  their  four  homes  there. 

The  roads  of  Chelten  Hills  are  macadamized  and  bordered  by  shade  trees 
and  beautiful  hedges.  The  air  is  pure  and  the  water  is  celebrated  for  its 
sweetness  and  purity. 

The  North  Pennsylvania  Rail  Road,  now  a  branch  of  the  Philadelphia 
&  Reading  Road,  passes  through  the  center  of  the  Hills,  and  fifty  trains  each 
way  daily  render  access  to  the  city  at  any  hour  easy  and  convenient. 

This  road  as  far  as  Jenkintown  forms  a  part  of  the  Bound  Brook  route  to 
New  York,  which  latter  city  may  therefore  be  reached  from  Chelten  Hills 
without  the  necessity  of  going  through  Philadelphia. 

The  North  Pennsylvania  Rail  Road  was  not  running  until  1856,  two 
years  after  the  writer  went  to  Chelten  Hills.  Although  this  charming  country 
is  so  near  a  large  city,  yet  it  has  scarcely  ever  been  necessary  to  employ  police 
aid  and  there  is  no  demand  for  constables  or  magistrates,  and  aside  from  the 
few  tramps  that  occasionally  linger  in  the  neighborhood,  there  are  seldom  any 
annoyances. 

A  Resident  of  Chelten  Hills. 


110  *  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

OGONTZ  SCHOOL. 

''  Ogontz  School  for  Young  Ladies  "  is  a  prominent  educational  institu- 
tion, situated  half  a  mile  north  of  the  York  Road  at  the  point  of  the  Gate 
House,  and  three-quarters  of  a  mile  from  the  station,  near  which  the  Phila- 
delphia &  Reading  Rail  Road  crosses  the  turnpike  road.  Ogontz  was  at  first 
the  name  of  the  private  estate  of  Jay  Cooke,  Esq.,  but  after  his  residence  was 
given  over  to  the  purposes  of  the  school  the  name  was  appropriated  to  desig- 
nate the  nearest  station  of  the  Philadelphia  &  Reading  Rail  Road,  and  an 
office  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  and  the  United  States 
Express  Company. 

The  situation  of  the  school  is  one  of  remarkable  beauty.  A  steady  rise  of 
the  country  northeast  of  Philadelphia  from  the  Delaware  River,  terminates  in 
this  vicinity  in  a  succession  of  billowy  hills,  the  slopes  of  which  are  broken  by 
patches  of  native  forest,  fruitful  field,  and  well-trimmed  pleasure  grounds,  with 
here  and  there  a  gleam  of  native  stream  or  artificial  pond  and  fountain. 
Crowning  one  of  these  wooded  heights,  five  hundred  feet  above  the  river  bed 
rises  a  granite  structure  four  or  five  stories  in  height,  the  dignity  and  spacious- 
ness of  which  are  but  feebly  suggested  by  our  illustrations.  The  estate  con- 
tains over  two  hundred  acres,  forty  of  which,  adjacent  to  the  house  and  dotted 
with  fine  evergreens  and  chestnuts  are  devoted  to  the  uses  of  a  well  kept  lawn. 
In  order  to  meet  the  special  needs  of  a  school,  a  picturesque  stone  building  for 
a  laboratory  and  studio  was  erected  by  the  present  principals  a  few  rods  west 
of  the  great  house.  Half  way  down  the  slope  to  the  pond  on  the  other  side  has 
sprung  up  a  three  story  wooden  building  containing  the  gymnasium  and 
music  rooms.  The  entire  group,  comprehending  also  the  two  lodges,  stables, 
green-houses  and  infirmary,  constitute  a  marked  feature  in  the  country. 

These  premises  were  first  opened  to  a  girls'  school,  September  27th,  1883. 
The  venture  was  the  outgrowth  of  the  largest,  and  one  of  the  oldest  institu- 
tions of  Philadelphia,  the  "  Chestnut  Street  Seminary, "  founded  in  1850 ; 
whose  history  is  coeval  with  that  of  woman's  higher  education  in  this  country, 
since  it  is  to  Mrs.  Emma  Willard  the  pioneer  in  the  education  of  American 
young  women  that  its  founders.  Miss  Mary  L.  Bonney  and  Miss  Harriet  A. 
Dillaye,  of  New  York,  were  indebted  for  the  aims  and  methods  that  entered 
so  successfully  into  their  undertaking.  This  school,  in  an  excellent  condition 
passed  from  their  active  supervision  and  labor  in  1883,  into  the  hands  of  Miss 
Frances  E.  Bennett,  for  twenty  years  connected  with  the  parent  school  and 
Miss  Sylvia  Eastman  formerly  preceptress  of  the  High  School,  Buffalo,  New 
York.  The  transplanting  of  the  school  from  ''  1615  Chestnut  Street  "  to  its 
more  imposing  home  was  appropriately  accompanied  by  impressive  exercises. 
Several  hundred  guests  and  more  than  a  hundred  pupils  were  gathered  in  the 
spacious  corridors  and  conservatory  when  the  hour  for  the  opening  ceremonies 
arrived.  Prof.  Michael  Cross,  organist,  had  the  music  in  charge  and  a  delega- 
tion from    the   Orpheus    Club   of   Philadelphia   rendered   most   acceptably 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  115 

Prentzer's  "  The  Chapel  "  and  "  Holy  Peace  "  by  Franz  Abt.  The  Rev.  E.  W. 
Appleton,  D.  D.,  Rector  of  St.  Paul's,  Cheltenham,  read  the  twenty-eighth 
chapter  of  Job  and  part  of  the  fifth  chapter  of  Matthew.  The  principal 
address  was  made  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  William  Bacon  Stevens,  Bishop  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, who  began  liappily  as  follows  : 

"  Fifty  years  ago  a  young  student,  forced  from  home  in  Boston  by  ill  health, 
travelled  on  horse-back  from  Cincinnati  to  Lake  Erie.  At  that  day  there  was 
not  a  railroad  west  of  the  Alleghanies,  and  for  thirty  days  he  plodded  on  his 
solitary  way,  until,  amidst  the  wilds  of  Erie  County,  he  saw  the  little  village 
of  Sandusky,  and,  entering  the  town,  drew  up  at  the  house  of  a  gentleman 
whom  he  had  met  before  in  the  city  of  Washington,  and  who  had  invited  him 
to  be  his  guest.  Everything  at  that  time  in  Sandusky  was  primitive,  or  only 
just  blossoming  into  more  than  frontier  civilization.  Indian  tribes  were 
encamped  close  by,  and  vestiges  of  savage  life  and  traditions  of  savage  deeds 
everywhere  abounded.  The  neat  brick  house  of  his  friend,  in  which  he  abode 
two  weeks,  was  built  on  the  site  of  an  Indian  lodge,  long  occupied  by  the 
chief  of  a  tribe  then  living,  named  Ogontz. 

"  The  chief  used  occasionally  to  visit  the  house  and  stay  there  a  week  at  a 
time  delighting  the  children  of  the  family  by  carrying  them  on  his  back,  and 
by  telling  them  stories  of  Indian  adventures  and  wigwam  life.  So  much  did 
this  old  chief  impress  himself  on  that  village  that  if  you  should  now  visit 
Sandusky,  though  it  has  become  a  beautiful  city,  you  would  walk  in  '  Ogontz 
Street ;  '  you  would  eat  bread  made  from  the  flour  of  '  Ogontz  Mills ; '  you 
would  see  the  procession  of  Masons  belonging  to  '  Ogontz  Lodge, '  and  would 
hear  the  hurried  tramp  of  the  '  Ogontz  Fire  Company. '  '  Well ! '  you  im- 
patiently ask,  '  What  has  all  this  narrative,  which  belongs  to  a  past  age  and 
a  distant  frontier  to  do  with  us  here,  and  to-day? ' 

"  Only  this.  The  kind  host  who  lived  in  that  brick  house  was  the  Hon. 
Elutheros  Cooke  then  the  member  of  Congress  from  that  district  of  Ohio. 
One  of  the  boys  who  had  often  sat  astride  Ogontz's  neck  and  listened  to 
Ogontz's  stories  was  his  son,  Jay  Cooke  and  the  young  student  traveller  is  he 
who  now  addresses  you.  And  so,  when  many  years,  after  this  promising  son 
had  become  the  great  financier  of  our  country  during  the  civil  war,  and  when 
fortune  had  almost  emptied  her  cornucopia  into  his  lap,  and  in  the  bigness  of 
his  heart,  in  order  to  give  full  verge  to  his  hospitality,  he  built  the  mansion 
in  which  we  now  are,  he  remembered  the  old  Indian  chief  of  his  childhood. 
He  recalled  that  chief's  connections  with  the  brick  house  of  his  boyhood 
home,  and  hence  gave  to  his  new  home,  built  not  of  bark,  like  an  Indian  wig- 
wam, nor  yet  of  logs,  like  the  hut  of  a  pioneer,  but  of  massive  granite — the 
name  '  Ogontz ; '  and  further,  to  commemorate  this  chief  he  had  a  bronze 
medallion,  modeled  from  one  of  Catlin's  pictures,  made  of  him  and  placed  in 
the  grand  staircase,  with  appropriate  Indian  surroundings  in  the  crystal 
window  above,  and  there  you  have  seen  him  to-day.  This  is  the  reason  why 
this  mansion  is  named  Ogontz. 


116  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

"  One  of  the  two  youths,  who,  half  a  century  ago,  first  met  on  Ogontz's 
camping-ground,  meets  you  to-day  in  this  hall  of  Ogontz,  built  by  the  other, 
to  dedicate  its  spacious  rooms  and  grounds  to  the  cause  of  the  higher  educa- 
tion of  the  young  women  of  our  land.  How  little  did  we  boys  anticipate  such 
an  event  as  this  half  a  century  ago !  " 

Bishop  Stevens  was  followed  by  the  Rev.  William  C.  Cattell,  D.  D.,  Pres- 
ident of  Lafayette  College,  and  the  Rev.  George  Dana  Boardman,  D.  D.,  of  the 
Broad  Street  Baptist  Church,  Philadelphia. 

Thus  fittingly  dedicated  to  the  cause  of  Christian  education  the  Ogontz 
School  has  gone  forward  under  wise  and  skilful  management  until  the  tenth 
year  has  been  reached.  The  characteristic  feature  of  the  educational  system 
is  that  the  mental  culture  shall  be  individual  and  not  general.  With  College 
equipment  the  instruction  is  patiently  graded  to  the  mental  endowment  of  each 
pupil.  The  number  of  pupils  received  into  the  family  is  about  one  hundred 
and  there  are  a  few  students  from  the  neighborhood.  These  with  the  requi- 
site number  of  instructors  and  attendants  make  up  a  household  whose  activi- 
ties create  a  very  visible  impression  on  the  life  of  the  community. 

B.   o.   A. 

Communicated : 

CHELTENHAM  ACADEMY. 

Twenty-one  years  ago  a  preparatory  school  for  boys  was  opened  in  one  of 
the  old  Shoemaker  mansions  in  Shoemakertown  (now  Ogontz)  by  Rev.  Samuel 
Clements,  D.  D.  The  first  building  occupied  by  the  school  is  still  standing 
and  is  known  as  "  Ivy  Green.  "  It  has  been  purchased  recently  by  Mr.  Geo.  Fox 
who  intends  to  improve  the  property,  still  allowing  it  to  retain  the  appearance 
and  features  of  a  colonial  homestead. 

"  Ivy  Green  "  was  not  well  adapted  to  the  purposes  of  the  school,  which, 
in  1872,  was  removed  to  "  Norwood  "  on  the  summit  of  the  Chelten  Hills, 
about  three-fourths  of  a  mile  west  of  the  Old  York  Road,  at  the  corner  of 
Washington  Lane  and  Chelten  Avenue.  This  site,  the  country  seat  of  the 
late  Maurice  L.  Hallowell,  was  all  that  could  be  desired  and  was  settled  upon 
as  the  permanent  home  of  Cheltenham  Academy.  Here  amid  such  surround- 
ings and  enjoying  such  advantages  as  are  possessed  by  very  few  institutions  of 
its  kind,  the  good  doctor  carried  out  for  nearly  seventeen  years  his  well 
defined  ideas  in  the  training  of  young  men  and  boys,  and  left  at  his  death  in 
1888  an  institution  which  is  a  fitting  memorial  to  his  ability  and  high  Chris- 
tian character  and  to  his  faithful  conscientious  work. 

"  Dr.  Clements,"  as  writes  one  of  his  old  pupils,  "  was  a  great-hearted,  clear- 
headed, manly  man.  "  He  had  a  deep  love  of  truth  and  righteousness  and  he 
lived  without  any  air  of  sanctimoniousness,  the  religion  he  professed.  He 
possessed  in  a  remarkable  degree,  the  faculty  of  impressing  himself  upon  his 


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THE  YORK  ROAD.  .    121 

pupils;  so  his  life  will  for  years  to  come,  be  lived  again  in  the  lives  of  those 
who  were  favored  by  personal  contact  with  him. 

Shortly  after  the  death  of  Dr.  Clements  the  school  property  was  purchased 
by  Mr.  John  Calvin  Rice,  an  educator  of  wide  experience,  under  whose  man- 
agement the  Academy  has  been  a  continued  success,  and  under  whose  direc- 
tion it  will  doubtless,  in  the  future,  fulfil  the  highest  expectations  of  its  many 
friends. 

The  school  is  distinctively  college  preparatory  in  its  plan  and  purpose, 
and  at  this  time  is  represented  by  its  graduates  in  Harvard,  Yale,  Princeton, 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  Cornell,  Amherst,  Lafayette  and  West  Point. 
Of  the  class  of  1892  all  the  members  but  one  will  enter  leading  colleges  in 
September. 

Military  drill  was  introduced  several  years  ago,  the  first  military 
instructor  being  Col.  John  H.  Merrill  who  had  received  his  college  prepara- 
tory training  in  the  Academy.  Col.  Merrill  is  the  present  Chairman  of  the 
Cheltenham  Alumni  Association  and  is  also  a  member  of  the  military  com- 
mittee of  the  school,  the  other  members  being  General  Daniel  H.  Hastings, 
Col.  0.  C.  Bosbyshell,  and  Col.  Thos.  Potter,  Jr.  These  gentlemen  have  done 
the  school  an  excellent  service  in  the  past  three  years,  the  proficiency  of  the 
cadets  in  drill  and  tactics  having  been  greatly  increased  by  their  inspection 
and  encouragement. 

The  following  is  the  corps  of  instructors  for  the  present  year : 

John  Calvin  Rice,  A.  M.,  Principal. 

Samuel  M.  Otto,  Ph.  D, ;   Greek  and  History. 
Chas.  E.  S.  Rasay,  A.  M. ;  Latin  and  English  Literature. 
Lieut.  R.  H.  McLean ;  Military  Tactics,  Mathematics. 
Waldemar  Loeher,  A.  M.,  Modern  Languages. 
Willard  Travell,  A.  B. ;  Physics  and  Mathematics. 
Willis  Earle,  A.  B. ;  Elocution  and  English. 
Mrs.  Jennie  M.  Otto,  English  and  History. 
Miss  Ida  Bristle ;  Geography  and  Arithmetic. 

Music. — Mrs.  M.  L.  C.  Rice,  Piano. 

Prof.  Myers,  Mandolin,  Guitar  and  Banjo. 
Prof.  Cross,  Violin.  ' 

Prof.  Loomis,  Dancing.  W.  A.  Cross  M.  D.,  Physician  to  the  School. 

CHELTEN  HILLS. 

Bean's  History  of  Montgomery  County  notes  the  various  ranges  of  hills 
in  this  County.  In  the  southeast  are  the  Gulf  Hills,  Barren  Hills  and  Chelten 
Hills.  In  the  center  the  Providence  and  Skippack  Hills  and  in  the  north  the 
Stone  Hills.  The  hills  run  northeast  and  southwest  like  the  Catskill,  Blue 
Ridge  and  Alleghany  Mountains. 


122  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

As  to  the  character  of  the  soil  in  this  region,  according  to  Bean,  Chelten- 
ham Township  is  underlaid  with  "  garnet  and  mica,  schist,  syenite  and  gran- 
itic rocks  and  sandstone. " 

Abington  has  "  mica  and  garnet,  schist,  syenite  and  granitic  rocks,  sand- 
stone and  limestone.  " 

CHELTENHAM. 

This  Township  joins  Philadelphia,  and  also  Abington  and  Springfield 
Townships.  W.  J.  Buck  describes  it  in  Bean's  History  of  Montgomery 
County,  as  of  a  rolling  surface,  "  w'itli  a  soil  composed  of  loam  and  gravel, 
which  is  well  cultivated  and  productive.  The  Edge  Hill  range  is  the  most 
elevated.  " 

The  rolling  character  of  eastern  Pennsylvania  is  one  of  its  pleasantest 
features,  and  in  this  section  Philadelphians  have  taken  advantage  of  it  in 
finding  splendid  locations  for  dwellings  on  the  hill  sides  where  exquisite  views 
of  fine  scenery  are  spread  before  their  porches  and  windows  in  summer  and 
winter  in  the  varied  beauty  of  the  seasons. 

Cheltenham  has  many  streams,  Tacony  Creek  being  the  largest.  Its 
water  power  moves  mills  and  factories. 

Near  Jenkinto^vn  building-stone  is  much  quarried.  A  quarry  near  the 
depot  is  a  point  where  a  stranger  in  walking  the  fields  after  dark  would  need 
to  mind  his  steps  if  he  did  not  wish  to  fall  over  a  precipice.  It  reminds  one 
of  Bermuda  quarries. 

This  newspaper  item  shows  some  changes  in  property  : 

J.  T.  Jackson  &  Co.  have  sold  at  Chelten  Hills  for  A.  Barker,  executor, 
the  property  northeast  corner  Washington  Lane  and  Chelten  Avenue,  sixteen 
acres  and  improvements,  to  George  V.  Cresson  for  $50,000.  Also  the  "Cedars," 
Chelten  Avenue  and  Juniper  Avenue,  five  acres  and  improvements,  Robert 
Shoemaker,  to  William  L.  Elkins  for  $30,000.  Also  for  the  Mellor  estate, 
square  of  ground.  Fifteenth,  Sixteenth,  Westmoreland,  and  Ontario  Streets,  to 
William  R.  Brown. 

SUNNYSIDE. 

This  large  old  fashioned  mansion  on  Church  Road  about  a  mile  and  a  half 
from  Ogontz,  standing  with  the  gable  toward  the  road,  belongs  to  the  estate  of 
J.  Pemberton  Hutchinson,  and  is  now  the  summer  residence  of  his  son, 
Pemberton  S.  Hutchinson,  Esq.,  President  of  the  Philadelphia  Saving  Fund. 

The  father  of  this  gentleman  purchased  the  farm  of  120  acres  of  Joseph 
Howell,  who  owned  this  as  a  countrv-seat. 

The  American  Fire  Insurance  Company,  sold  to  Joseph  Howell  and  Job 
Bacon  sold  to  that  Company,  and  Joseph  Dobson  sold  to  Job  Bacon. 

Wm.  Penn  conveyed  1000  acres  in  1G87  to  Wm.  King  of  which  this  is  a 
part. 


Hkv.   SAMIKL   ClvK.MKMS,    D.  i). 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  125 

The  central  portion  of  the  house  facing  the  lawn  was  built  in  1688  by 
Mr.  King. 

The  house  has  been  enlarged  at  various  times. 

It  has  been  twice  in  possession  of  the  family  before,  and  this  is  a  curious 
record. 

There  is  a  large  piazza  surrounding  the  mansion  which  looks  refreshing 
in  the  summer  heat  facing  an  ample  lawn  and  the  place  is  noted  for  its  large 
amount  of  woodland  and  especially  black  walnut  and  other  fine  forest  trees. 

ASHBOURNE. 

Ashbourne  is  on  the  North  Penn  Rail  Road  not  far  from  the  Old  York 
Road.  The  depot  is  a  good  two-story  building  of  brick  which  draws  the  notice 
of  the  traveller.     There  was  a  grist  mill  here  before  1750. 

PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 

The  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  north,  according  to  Rev.  Richard  Mont- 
gomery's account  in  Bean's  History,  were  the  means,  under  God,  of  starting 
the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Ashbourne.  Services  were  held  by  a  member  of 
this  Presbytery  at  Shoemakertown,  but  afterward  Ashbourne  was  selected  as 
the  center  of  the  new  undertaking.  In  1878  a  Sunday  School  was  opened  in 
a  building  offered  kindly  by  R.  J.  Dobbins.  The  same  year  a  church  was 
formed.  Charles  S.  Luther,  who  had  been  an  elder  of  the  Bethlehem  Presby- 
terian Church,  in  Philadelphia,  and  Thomas  C.  Van  Horn  were  elected  elders. 
In  1880  Rev.  J.  W.  Kirk,  who  had  been  engaged  in  the  Somerville  Mission  in 
Germantown,  was  elected  pastor.  He  was  installed  on  the  13th  of  May, 
"  During  Mr.  Kirk's  pastorate  the  church  increased  in  membership  and  the 
general  work  was  systematized.  "     He  resigned  in  1882. 

On  November  30th  of  this  year  the  Rev.  Richard  Montgomery,  a  graduate 
of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  of  Princeton  Seminary,  was  called  to 
be  pastor,  and  on  December  19  was  ordained  and  installed.  He  is  a  native 
of  Philadelphia,  and  was  temporarily  in  charge  of  the  Columbia  Avenue 
Church  in  that  city,  but  this  was  his  first  regular  parish  and  his  service  has 
been  a  long  one.  Mr.  Montgomery  has  been  connected  with  the  Presbyterian 
Journal  since  1886. 

In  1883  a  contract  was  made  with  Bird  &  Given,  of  Philadelphia,  to  build 
a  church  from  the  plans  of  Isaac  Pursell.  The  building  was  finished  in  1884, 
having  cost  $15,000. 

It  should  be  added  that  the  building  is  a  pretty  one  of  stone,  having  a 
basement,  and  a  transept.  There  is  a  solid  tower  containing  the  porch,  and 
surmounted  by  a  spire. 

Near  Ashbourne,  on  Tacony  Creek,  is  the  Fork  Factory  of  Myers  & 
Ervien.     Jacob  Myers  established  it  about  1848. 


126 


THE  YORK  ROAD. 


Jacob  Leech's  old  grist  mill  was  erected  before  1751,  though  now  used  for 
other  purposes  by  the  firm. 

The  Edge-Tool  Factory  of  C.  Hammond  &  Son  is  near  at  hand.  The 
stone  buildings  have  been  enlarged  of  late  years.  "  The  father  of  the  present 
proprietor  "  began  this  work  in  1840.  As  one  drives  along  this  busy  region, 
with  its  magnificent  scenery,  his  ear  is  struck  with  the  noise  that  indicates  the 


PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH,  ASHBOURNE. 


struggle  of  human  skill  with  dead  matter,  under  the  powerful  influence  of  fire 
which  faithfully  serves  the  needs  of  man. 

Cheltenham  or  Milltown,  on  Tacony  Creek,  not  far  away  is  the  site  of  the 
Shovel  and  Spade  Factory  of  Thomas  Rowland's  Sons.  The  family  are  exten- 
sive iron  and  steel  workers  in  Kensington  and  Frankford. 


Mr.  jay  COOKE. 


Mr.  KOBERT  shoemaker. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  131 

Col.  Samuel  Miles,  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  lived  near  Cheltenham 
village.  He  had  a  slitting  mill  on  his  place.  Milesboro'  was  laid  out  by  him 
on  his  land,  and  given  his  name.  He  was  a  member  of  the  State  Assembly. 
He  died  at  the  age  of  sixty-five,  in  1805.  John  Emery  has  his  large  farm  on 
Tacony  Creek.  He  left  a  daughter  named  Maty.  Col.  Miles  was  a  member 
of  the  City  Troop,  and  its  captain.  He  owned  much  land  near  Bellefonte, 
where  he  built  a  furnace,  and  two  of  his  sons  conducted  it.  His  son,  Joseph, 
and  his  son-in-law  Joseph  B.  McKean  were  his  executors,  and  his  daughter 
Mary  received  the  Cheltenham  estate. 

Rev.  Robert  Collyer  came  from  England,  being  a  blacksmith.  He  walked 
from  Philadelphia  to  Shoemakertown,  seeking  work  and  obtained  employ- 
ment at  Chas.  Hammond's  Axe  Factory.  He  was,  while  he  resided  here,  a 
local  preacher  of  the  Methodist  Church  at  Milestown.  He  often  took  part  in 
literary  debates  in  meetings  at  Shoemakertown,  and  was  greatly  admired  for 
his  fluency  of  utterance. 

He  went  from  here  to  Chicago,  and  had  in  his  Chicago  church  the  anvil 
which  he  used  in  England.     He  has  been  called  "the  blacksmith  preacher.  " 

The  Cheltenham  Rolling  Mill  on  Tacony  Creek,  one  mile  below  Shoe- 
makertown, w^as  built  in  1790,  probably  by  James  Rowland  and  Maxwell 
Rowland.  In  1856  it  was  owned  and  operated  by  Rowland  &  Hunt,  making 
boiler  plates  from  blooms.  It  was  abandoned  in  1858.  At  first  this  mill  was 
used  to  slit  nail  rods.  The  firm  of  Rowland  &  Hunt  was  composed  of  Mrs. 
Harriet  Rowland,  a  widow,  and  Mr.  Alfred  Hunt.  (James  M.  Swank's  "  History 
of  the  Manufacture  of  Iron  in  All  Ages, "  p.  148). 

Dr.  William  Ashmead  of  Germantown,  who  died  February  3d,  1888,  aged 
87,  was  the  fifth  generation  in  descent  from  John  Ashmead,  who,  in  1682, 
settling  at  Cheltenham,  called  it  from  his  native  place  in  England,  where 
Baroness  Burdett-Coutts  was  born,  who  married  Ashmead  Bartlett,  M.  P.,  a 
descendant  of  the  early  settler  named.  Dr.  Ashmead,  according  to  a  writer  in 
the  Inquirer,  was  a  relative  of  the  Schaeff'er  &  Bush  families,  of  Philadelphia, 
and  Capt.  John  Ashmead  "  who  made  one  hundred  voyages,  chiefly  to  the 
East  Indies,  between  1758  and  1782,  and  who  died  in  this  city  in  1818  while 
holding  the  office  of  Chief  Port  Warden, "  was  his  uncle.  Dr.  Ashmead  was 
the  oldest  living  graduate  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  where  he  grad- 
uated in  medicine. "  This  benevolent  man  first  practised  in  the  city.  He 
belonged  to  various  medical  and  benevolent  societies,  and  donated  a  good  sum 
to  Wills  Hospital.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  an  interview  with  him  in  my 
Germantown  historical  researches. 

SHOEMAKERTOWN. 

Shoemakertown  village,  now  Ogontz,  according  to  Buck,  has  "  a  merchant 
mill,  carriage  factory,  hotel,  store.  Episcopal  Church,  two  halls  for  concerts,  and 
lectures,  several  mechanic  shops  and  a  passenger  station  at  the  North  Penn- 
sylvania Rail  Road. " 


132  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

There  are  many  fine  country  seats  near  here. 

In  1832  Gordon^s  Gazetteer  names  "  a  grist  mill,  store  and  four  or  five 
good  dwellings  "  here. 

The  stone  bridge  was  built  in  1798.  Near  the  bridge  Edward  Martin  had 
a  tannery  in  1776,  "no  doubt  established  some  time  before.  " 

Captain  Robert  Coltman,  a  Revolutionary  officer,  died  on  his  farm  on  the 
Ogontz  property,  in  1816,  He  was  under  Col.  Thos.  Procter.  Dr.  Robert 
Coltman,  formerly  of  Jenkintown  is  his  great-grandson.  He  has  his  "  portrait 
in  oil  and  his  badge  and  certificate  of  the  Society  of  Cincinnati. "  The  Doctor 
showed  me  some  of  his  relics  when  I  was  studying  the  history  of  that  region. 
He  has  since  moved  to  the  extreme  west,  and  is  engaged  in  one  of  the  Indian 
Missions,  carrying  on  a  warfare  against  spiritual  and  physical  evil,  in  worthy 
emulation  of  his  military  ancestor. 

Mr.  Buck  names  Catherine  Gill  as  a  remarkable  case  of  longevity  in 
Cheltenham.     She  died  in  1808,  being  one  hundred  and  one  years  old. 

"  Benjamin  Hallowell,  the  distinguished  teacher  of  Alexandria,  Va.,  was 
born  in  this  township  in  1799.  Anthony  W.  and  Jane  Hallowell  were  his 
parents.  His  mother  was  a  daughter  of  Benjamin  Shoemaker,  of  Shoemaker- 
town,  near  which  they  resided.  "  The  teacher  died  in  1877,  at  the  age  of  78. 
He  complied  with  the  wish  of  his  descendants,  and  wrote  an  autobiography, 
published  in  1883. 

Albert  J.  Engle,  the  prominent  merchant,  and  long  the  faithful  post  master 
at  Shoemakertown  receives  a  lengthy  notice  in  Bean's  History  of  Montgomery 
County.  He  is  a  progressive  man  and  has  advanced  the  neighborhood,  and 
his  store  and  remodeled  Tyson  mansion  are  striking  objects  on  the  York  Road. 

ST.  PAUL'S  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH,  CHELTENHAM. 

My  friend,  Rev.  E.  W.  Appleton,  has  placed  in  my  hands  a  sketch  of  the 
history  of  this  parish  prepared  by  himself,  and  published  in  The  Episcopal 
Register  of  Philadelphia,  November  12th,  A.  D.,  1881.     I  will  condense  it. 

The  meeting  to  consider  the  establishment  of  this  church  in  Cheltenham 
Township  took  place  on  June  23d,  1860.  An  encouraging  interest  had  pre- 
viously been  shown,  and  occasional  services  held  in  private  houses  for  years, 
and  a  Sunday  School  was  in  existence. 

The  meeting  consisted  of  those  living  in  Chelten  Hills  and  its  neighbor- 
hood. It  was  stated  that  $5,500  had  been  subscribed  toward  building  a 
church.  It  was  resolved  that  it  should  be  erected  at  the  junction  of  the  Old 
York  and  Cheltenham  Roads.  The  following  vestry  was  elected  :  John  AV^ 
Thomas,  Jay  Cooke,  J.  F,  Peniston,  William  C.  Houston,  John  Baird,  Robert 
Shoemaker,  Wm.  G.  Moorhead,  Frederick  Fraley,  H.  P.  Birchall,  Isaac  Starr, 
Jr.,  George  C.  Thomas  and  Wm.  Elliott. 

A  second  meeting  was  held  on  August  27th,  1860,  and  the  Bishop  of 
Pennsylvania,  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Alonzo  Potter,  was  then  asked  to  lay  the  corner- 


THE  YORK  ROAD. 


133 


stone  of  the  new  church.  The  ceremony  was  performed  on  September  3rd,  A. 
D.,  1860.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Wm.  Bacon  Stevens,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, made  an  address,  as  did  Rev.  Dr.  Richard  Newton,  who  from  the 
beginning  took  "  the  deepest  interest  "  in  the  welfare  of  the  young  parish.  He 
lived  for  a  time  near  the  church. 

Rev.  Robert  J.  Parvin  was  elected  the  first  rector,  on  April  19th,  A.  D. 
1861. 

"  The  church  was  solemnly  consecrated  to  the  service  of  Almighty  God  on 
Thursday  afternoon.  May  16,  1861,  by  the  Bishop  of  the  Diocese;  the  Rector, 
and  the  Rev.  Chas.  D.  Cooper,  Benjamin  Watson,  D.  C.  Millett,  J,  W.  Cracroft, 
and  0.  B.  Keith,  taking  part  in  the  services.  The  sermon  was  preached  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Newton,  Rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Philadelphia. " 

The  church,  on  Whitsunday,  the  19th  of  May,  1861,  "  was  opened  for 
regular  services,  the  Rector  officiating  both  morning  and  evening,  and  organ- 
izing the  Sunday  School  in  the  afternoon.  " 

On  March  28,  1864,  "  plans  for  a  new  building  for  the  Sunday  School 
and  library  were  submitted  to  the  vestry  and  its  erection  decided  upon.  A 
new  organ  was  placed  in  the  church  in  1866." 

Rev.  Robert  J.  Parvin  was  elected  General  Secretary  of  the  Evangelical 
Educational  Society  in  December,  1866,  and  resigned  his  Rectorship.  He  had 
worked  usefully  and  successfully  for  over  five  and  a  half  years.  His  resigna- 
tion was  to  take  effect  on  January  1st,  1867. 


ST.    PAUL'S    EPISCOPAL    CHURCH,    CHELTENHAM. 

On  December  4th,  1868,  he  "  with  his  beloved  friend  "  and  co-laborer, 
Rev.  F.  S.  Rising,  "  while  engaged  in  his  important  labors,  was  suddenly  called 


134  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

to  his  eternal  home.  "  These  clergymen  "  perished  in  the  terrible  steamboat 
disaster  on  the  Ohio  River. "  There  is  a  beautiful  marble  tablet  in  St.  Paul's 
Church,  where  he  loved  to  minister,  which  declares  to  his  former  parishioners 
that,  like  Abel,  "  he  being  dead  yet  speaketh,  "  Hebrews  xi,  4. 

The  present  Rector,  Rev.  Edward  W.  Appleton,  D.  D.,  was  unanimously 
elected  Rector  on  June,  19th,  A.  D.,  1867 ;  and  took  charge  on  the  30th  day  of 
that  month.  "  The  congregation  worshipped  in  their  enlarged  and  beautiful 
church  for  the  first  time  on  the  23rd  of  February,  1868,  Bishop  Lee,  of  Iowa, 
preaching  the  sermon  on  this  interesting  occasion. " 

The  church  improvement  cost  over  $7,000.  The  same  year  the  rectory 
was  finished  and  occupied.  It  was  "  the  gift  of  two  munificent  members  of 
the  vestry, "  and  is  a  beautiful,  ample  and  convenient  modern  dwelling  of  stone 
adjacent  to  the  church.  A  large  hall  for  the  "  Men's  Bible  Class  and  for 
secular  purposes,  and  a  sexton's  house  adjoining,  were  also  erected  "  this  year. 

In  1869  the  energetic  young  people  in  the  parish  caused  the  church  tower 
to  be  commenced,  and  finished  the  next  year. 

A  part  of  the  ground  in  the  rear  of  the  church  is  a  burial  place,  and  this 
"  God's  acre  "  is  beautifully  and  well  kept.  It  was  opened  not  long  before  the 
history  in  the  Episcopal  Register  was  written.  It  met  a  want  of  the  parish.  It 
is  pleasant  to  feel  that  the  holy  dead  are  lying  near  sacred  church  walls,  where 
they  seem  almost  to  be  mingling  in  the  prayers  and  praises  of  the  living,  as 
the  chimes  sound  sweetly  over  their  resting  places. 

In  1879,  in  the  autumn  season,  "  a  new,  large  and  admirable  organ,  built 
by  Roosevelt,  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  was  placed  in  the  church.  For 
this  improvement,  as  was  the  case  with  the  tower  and  clock,  the  parish  is 
indebted  to  the  younger  members  of  the  congregation.  " 

Since  Dr.  Appleton  assumed  the  rectorship  of  the  church,  in  1867,  $136,715 
(independent  of  pew  rents)  have  been  contributed  for  religious  and  benevo- 
lent purposes.  During  the  same  period  the  following  official  acts  have  been 
performed :  Baptisms — infants  243,  adults  70,  total  313 ;  confirmed,  197 ; 
marriages,  63 ;  burials,  121.  " 

"  The  following  named  gentlemen  constitute  the  present  vestry :  (that  is  in 
1881),  Messrs.  John  W.  Thomas,  Jay  Cooke,  Wardens ;  Robert  Shoemaker, 
Clerk  and  Treasurer ;  Dell  Noblitt,  Jay  Cooke,  Jr.,  Thomas  E.  Shoemaker, 
James  Day  Rowland,  John  M.  Butler,  Hubert  R.  Hammond,  Edward  M. 
Davis,  Jr.,  and  Henry  C.  Birchall. "  Dr.  Thomas  B.  Betts,  Chas.  D.  Barney, 
and  Benjamin  H.  Shoemaker  have  been  in  the  vestry  since  this  date.  It  is 
pleasant  to  see  old  names  in  the  vestry  and  few  parishes  have  been  so  long  in 
charge  of  but  two  rectors. 

Dr.  Appleton  thus  closes  his  sketch:  "St.  Paul's  Church,  Cheltenham, 
has  proved  a  blessing  to  the  community  in  which  it  has  been  established.  As 
the  years  come  and  go,  may  the  divine  benediction  continue  to  rest  upon  it, 
until  the  earthly  courts  of  prayer  give  place  to  the  Heavenly  Temple  of  Praise 
and  time  itself  shall  be  merged  into  eternity.  " 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  135 

The  48th  verse  of  the  106th  Psalm  may  well  be  added  to  the  faithful 
Rector's  prayer :  "  Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  from  everlasting  to  ever- 
lasting :  and  let  all  the  people  say  Amen.     Praise  ye  the  Lord. " 

We  continue  the  narrative  after  the  date  of  the  printed  sketch. 

In  1882  after  the  death  of  Mr.  John  W.  Thomas,  a  chime  of  ten  bells, 
made  by  McShane  &  Company  of  Baltimore  was  presented  by  his  widow,  in 
his  memory,  and  that  of  his  two  deceased  daughters.  They  all  rest  in  the 
churchyard  near  by,  Mr.  Thomas  had  been  Rector's  Warden  of  the  parish 
since  its  formation  in  1861.  The  chimes  were  rung  for  the  first  time  in 
December,  A.  D.,  1882.  In  1885  the  Rector,  Dr.  E.  W.  Appleton,  while  in 
England,  visited  the  manufactory  of  John  Smith  &  Sons  in  Derby  to  obtain 
information  in  regard  to  the  Cambridge  quarter  chimes.  These  chimes  are 
played  by  clock  work  procured  from  this  establishment  in  1887.  They  chime 
on  four  bells  every  quarter,  and  have  given  good  satisfaction,  and  are  a  great 
attraction  in  the  neighborhood,  as  chimes  are  exceedingly  rare  in  American 
country  districts.  The  funds  for  this  improvement  were  generously  contrib- 
uted by  a  few  persons  in  the  congregation. 

In  1882  Charles  B.  Wright,  Esq.,  added  to  the  church  a  handsome  stone 
transept  on  the  south  side,  as  a  memorial  to  his  deceased  wife  and  daughter. 
This  has  proved  a  very  handsome  enlargement  of  the  church,  and  it  contains 
the  organ.  % 

In  the  next  year  the  church  was  greatly  improved  by  being  repewed 
in  hard  wood,  which,  with  other  improvements,  cost  over  $3,000. 

A  very  interesting  feature  in  connection  with  this  parish  was  that  the 
gallery  of  the  church  was  occupied  by  the  pupils  of  the  Cheltenham  Academy 
for  Boys,  under  the  care  of  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Clements,  (how  in  charge 
of  Prof.  Rice),  and  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  young  ladies  at  Ogontz 
attend  service  here. 

A  late  improvement  is  the  introduction  of  electric  light  into  the  church 
and  rectory  by  a  generous  member  of  the  congregation.  The  four  wooden 
dials  of  the  clock,  have  given  place  to  glass  ones  each  8  feet  in  diameter.  The 
clock  is  illuminated  at  night  by  electric  light. 

When  the  church  was  reopened,  after  renovation,  in  1883,  Bishop  Stevens 
spoke  beautifully  of  the  church  bells  chiming  sweetly  to  Christian  ears  on  the 
Lord's  day  in  still  summer  mornings  and  snowy  winter  days,  reminding 
one  of  the  Celestial  City  where  Bunyan  said  the  bells  "  were  set  a  ringing  " 
to  welcome  the  pilgrims.  The  church  festivals  and  bridal  joys  and  funeral 
dirges  were  foreshadowed  and  national  festivals  honored.  The  Bishop  also 
made  loving  mention  of  Mr.  Thomas  as  a  father,  vestryman,  friend  and  child 
of  God,  quoting  a  religious  poem  referring  to  future  heavenly  meeting  with 
him  who  had  entered  Paradise. 

The  history  of  this  parish  is  also  given  in  a  work  by  the  author  of  the 
present  volume  entitled  "  Country  Clergy  of  Pennsylvania.  " 


136  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Mr.  Wm.  H.  Rhawn,  President  of  the  Bank  of  the  Repubhc,  in  Philadel- 
phia, has  a  country  seat  called  Knowlton  a  few  miles  from  St.  Paul's  Church 
and  has  written  some  lines  on  the  chimes  which  appeared  in  the  Germantown 
Telegraph.     I  quote  a  portion  of  them  : 

lEMORiAL  mmm  op  Cheltenham. 


Engraven  upon  a  tablet  of  polished  brass,  in  St.  Paul's  Episcopal  Church, 

Cheltenham,  Shoemakertown,  Pa.,  is  this  memorial : 

"  In  loving  memory  of  John  W.  Thomas,  Rector's  Warden  of  this  parish, 

1860-1882,  and  of  his  daughters — Ida,  wife  of  Charles  B.  Newcomb, 

and  Laura  C.  Thomas — the  Chime  of  Bells  in  the  tower 

has  been  placed  by  the  wife  and  mother, 

December  9,  1882." 

'  Memorial  words  also  appear  upon  the  bells. 


Hark !  What  sweet  distant  melodies 
Fill  the  soft  air  of  Sunday  morn ! 

And  charm  the  ear  with  harmonies. 
Like  dulcet  notes  of  mellow  horn  ? 

They  are  the  chimes  of  Cheltenham ! 

Hark !  'tis  a  joyous  wedding  march ! 

That  now  the  gladsome  peals  proclaim. 
As  happy  pair,  'neath  chancel  arch, 

On  plighted  troth  a  blessing  claim, 
Of  marriage  bells  of  Cheltenham  ! 

And  still  more  glorious  chimes  they  ring, 
And  tidings  glad  sound  o'er  the  glen, 

And  Merry  Christmas  carols  sing, 
Of  peace  on  earth,  good-will  to  men, 

In  Christmas  chimes  of  Cheltenham ! 

Yet  'tis  not  all  of  joy  they  bring, 
For  sorrow  too,  with  heavy  heart, 

A  mournful  knell  full  oft  must  ring, 
As  loved  ones  here  forever  part, — 

Sadly  toll  bells  of  Cheltenham  ! 

Beneath  the  sod  of  churchyard  lie, 
A  maiden  fair,  with  faithful  wife, — 

Their  honored  father  sleeping  nigh : 
Graven  the  name  each  bore  in  life, 

On  holy  bells  of  Cheltenham ! 

In  memory  of  those  daughters  dear. 

And  venerated  sire, — the  friend  and 
Warden  of  the  church,  many  a-year, — 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  137 

The  wife  and  mother's  loving  hand 
Gave  sacred  chimes  of  Cheltenham ! 

May  heaven's  music  chime  the  lay, 

That  whispers  to  the  widowed  heart, 
Of  blessed  Resurrection-day; 

And  of  a  meeting  ne'er  to  part, 
Chime  Easter  bells  of  Cheltenham  I 

Knowlton,  Eastkr,  1883. 

— Germantown  Telegraph. 


TOBY  LEECH. 


The  History  of  Trinity  Church,  Oxford,  by  its  Rector,  Rev.  Dr.  E.  Y. 
Buchanan,  mentions  Toby  Leech  as  one  of  the  members  of  that  parish  as 
early  as  A.  D.  1718. 

This  old  parish  has  a  chalice  for  the  Holy  Communion  service  from 
Queen  Anne  marked  Annx  Reginse.  Harry  Ingersoil,  Esq.,  gave  a  second  like 
it,  and  Miss  Sally  Morris  Wain  a  silver  flagon,  and  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Fisher  a 
baptismal  bowl. 

The  church  wardens,  John  Roberts  and  Thomas  Carver  were  empowered 
to  buy  land  for  a  glebe  of  Toby  Leech,  which  land  formerly  belonged  to 
Thomas  Graves.     No  purchase  resulted  at  the  time. 

Afterward  a  "  house,  orchard  and  sixty-three  acres  of  land  "  were  bought 
in  1724  "  on,  or  near  the  King's  Road,  now  the  Bristol  Turnpike,  about  mid- 
way between  the  present  towns  of  Holmesburg  and  Frankford.  They  were 
bought  by  Josiah  Harper  and  Toby  Leech,  '  yeomen, '  and  by  them  held,  in 
trust,  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  the  minister  of  Trinity  Church,  Oxford,  for 
the  time  being  forever.  "  The  cost  was  about  £130,  £95  being  given  by  the 
'  Widow  Mallows. '  Toby  Leech  was  a  contributor  and  other  names  of  con- 
tributors deserve  remembrance  and  keep  up  family  history,  as  follows: 
"  James  Morgan,  Peter  Taylor,  Charles  Finney,  Edward  Collins,  Robert  Grif- 
fith, Josiah  Harper,  Griffith  Griffith,  Thos.  Griffith,  Anthony  Turner,  Wm. 
West,  Nicholas  Hickst,  and  Roger  Turner."  Rev.  Robert  Weyman,  the 
missionary  from  the  English  Church  "with  Wm.  Keith,  Wm.  Whartnaby, 
Thos.  Duffield,  Mr.  Tabbett,  Joseph  Hawley  and  Richard  Taylor,  contributed 
liberally  toward  the  improvement  of  the  glebe. "  This  glebe  is  now  Mr.  Cor- 
nelius's place.  It  was  sold  in  later  days,  and  one  bought  on  the  Asylum 
Pike,  and  that  too  was  sold,  and  the  rectory  is  now  near  the  church  with 
some  land  attached  to  it. 

Griffith  Griffith  left  this  parish  £300. 

In  1741-42  Jacob  Leech  was  a  vestryman,  as  well  as  Samuel  S.  Leech. 
A  legacy  of  a  "  Mrs.  Leech  ''  is  noted,  page  28.  The  name  Leech  is  among 
the  early  pew  holders.     Thos.  Leech  was  an  officer  of  the  parish. 


138  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Tobias  Leech  was  one  of  those  appointed  to  lay  out  the  Old  York  Road. 
(See  page  20  of  this  volume). 

Richard  T.  Leech  was  a  commissioner  in  the  building  of  the  turnpike  on 
the  Old  York  Road,  being  a  resident  in  1803.     (See  page  23  of  this  book). 

Toby  Leech's  house  near  Ashbourne  is  described  in  Buck's  History  of 
Montgomery  County. 

Dr.  Buchanan  gives  the  following  Leech  epitaphs  in  Trinity  Church 
Yard: 

"In  memory  of  Toby  and  Hester  Leech,  who  came  from  Cheltenham,  in 
Gloucestershire,  England,  in  the  year  1682,  and  were  here  interred. 


"Here  lies  interred  Jacob  Leech,  son  of  Toby  and  Hester  Leech,  who  died 
28th  of  January,  1750-1.     Aged  57  years. 

He  .was  of  eight  born  last  save  one, 
And  one  survives  him  now  alone, 
Thus  life  and  death  succeed  for  aye, 
Until  the  final  judgement  day." 

The  Missionary  JEneas  Ross's  Latin  epitaph  for  his  children  is  followed 
by  one  which  I  must  record,  as  the  doorkeeper  in  God's  House  is  so  often  for- 
gotteUj  though  David  esteemed  the  place : 

"  In  memory  of  Csesar  Penrose,  sexton  of  this  church,  more  than  half  a 
century.  '  Good  and  faithful  servant,  well  done.  Enter  thou  into  the  joy  of 
thy  Lord. '  "    This  was  a  colored  man  who  died  in  1831. 

Miss  Elizabeth  Montgomery,  in  her  interesting  Reminiscences  of  Wil- 
mington, Delaware,  gives  a  pleasant  notice  of  the  faithful  sexton  of  Old 
Swedes  (Holy  Trinity)  Church,  Peter  Davis  who  delighted  in  adorning  the 
church  with  Christmas  greens. 

CHARLES  B.  WRIGHT'S  COUNTRY  SEAT. 

Mr.  Charles  B.  Wright  the  banker,  and  the  former  President  of  the 
Northern  Pacific  R.  R.,  and  a  man  of  wondrous  business  energy  and  success, 
and  generous  in  good  works,  resides  near  Old  York  Road  Station.  Colonel 
Beans'  History  of  Montgomery  County  thus  closes  an  extended  sketch  of  his 
successful  life ;  "  He  takes  a  warm  interest  in  the  growth  of  Tacoma,  and  has 
recently  erected  in  that  city  a  beautiful  memorial  church  as  a  monument  to 
his  deceased  wife  and  daughter,  and  he  has  also  endowed  a  school  for  girls, 
bearing  the  name  of  the  Annie  Wright  Seminary." 

For  the  past  twenty  years  Mr.  Wright  has  resided  during  about  seven 
months  of  each  year  on  one  of  the  Chelten  Hills,  in  Cheltenham  township, 
his  railroad  station  being  that  of  the  Old  York  Road,  on  the  North  Penn- 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  141 

*  sylvania  line.  He  has  at  that  place  fifteen  acres  of  land,  worked  and  culti- 
vated as  a  miniature  model  farm.  There  he  has  a  fine  country  house  and 
commodious  stables,  all  built  of  stone  and  surrounded  by  spacious  grounds 
beautifully  embellished.  His  Philadelphia  residence  is  the  mansion  formerl}'- 
occupied  by  William  G.  Moorhead,  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Chestnut  and 
Thirty-ninth  Streets. 

While  Mr.  Wright  has  thus  aided  Bishop  J.  A.  Paddock  of  Washington 
Territory  by  erecting  an  Episcopal  Church  and  School,  he  has  also  added  the 
transept  to  St.  Paul's  Church,  Cheltenham,  which  contains  the  organ.  Would 
that  the  country  contained  more  such  men  who  knew  the  right  use  of  wealth 
in  giving  the  benefit  of  Christianity  to  the  coming  ages. 

CHELTENHAM  HOMES. 

A  pretty  cottage  which  was  once  the  residence  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Richard 
Newton,  and  was  presented  to  that  eminent  Episcopal  divine  and  celebrated 
author  by  Jay  Cooke  and  his  wife,  is  a  notable  feature  at  Shoemakertown.  It 
is  occupied  by  Benjamin  H.  Shoemaker,  the  son  of  Robert  Shoemaker. 

In  the  Chelten  Hills  Joshua  Lippincott's  fine  house,  with  its  tasteful 
woodwork  and  piazzas,  on  the  brow  of  an  eminence  is  noticeable.  The  high 
hills  add  much  to  the  beauty  of  the  surrounding  scenery. 

Henry  H.  Lippincott's  stone  mansion  has  a  bay-window  to  diversify  its 
exterior,  and  a  tower  rises  above  it,  which  is  a  pleasant  feature  as  giving  both 
dignity  and  individuality.  The  position  is  a  fine  one  by  reason  of  its  eleva- 
tion, and  an  extended  lawn  presents  a  rural  view. 

Edward  Starr's  place  on  Washington  Lane  has  also  a  pretty  lawn  and  a 
ha-ha  wall  encloses  its  front,  while  a  porch  pleasantly  varies  the  exterior  of 
the  house. 

The  broken  angles  of  the  roof  of  Horace  G.  Lippincott's  abode,  and  its 
piazzas,  and  the  fine  view  before  it  make  it  a  desirable  home. 

Mr.  Miller's  pretty  gateway  and  hedge  identify  his  country  seat,  and  with 
observation  each  place  has  its  own  peculiar  charms  in  this  beautiful  region 
where  God  has  spread  out  natural  glories  so  bountifully  before  the  eyes  of  his 
children. 

The  residence  of  Robert  Shoemaker  is  a  cozy  mansion  where  a  busy  man 
finds  retreat  from  city  life  in  country  comfort.  Its  owner  has  been  long  known 
in  the  wholesale  drug  business  in  Philadelphia.  He  is  a  useful  member  of 
St.  Paul's  Church,  Cheltenham,  and  belongs  to  an  ancient  family  of  German 
origin  well  distinguished  in  the  history  of  Germantown  and  Cheltenham. 
Shoemakertown  derived  its  name  from  them.  Mr.  Shoemaker  has  kindly 
communicated  valuable  information  to  this  history.  His  son  resides  on  the 
same  place. 

Mr.  Widener's  house  was  undergoing  alteration  and  improvement  when 
I  viewed  it  in  passing. 


142  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

The  porto-cochere  is  "  a  pleasing  combination  of  stone,  spindle  arches, 
shingle  roof,  winker  windows  and  metal  finials  of  modern  Queen  Anne  archi- 
tecture. "  The  porch  surrounds  three  sides  of  the  mansion.  The  tower  termi- 
nates in  an  observatory ;  a  pointed  roof  surmounts  it.  Within  the  mansion  the 
walls  are  splendidly  frescoed,  while  hard  woods,  especially  oak,  are  used.  The 
circular  end  of  the  dining-room  has  a  stone  carved  mantel  with  wood  above  it. 
Carved  seats  are  on  each  side  of  it.  The  roof  is  of  open  timber.  The  baths 
are  finely  constructed,  and  the  "  electric  system  "  runs  through  the  house. 
Angus  S.  Wade  of  Philadelphia  is  the  architect.  A  new  stable  houses  the 
"  blooded  stock  "  of  the  owner. 

The  Philadelphia  Inquirer  of  January  30th,  1888,  gives  an  account  of  the 
improvement  of  the  former  Charles  Richardson  property  by  P.  A.  B.  Widener, 
(of  the  Traction  Company),  near  Thomas  Dawson's  fine  mansion.  The  house 
of  Mr.  Widener  is  an  architectural  success  of  a  high  order.  The  porches  and 
roof  of  the  old  mansion  were  removed  while  the  interior  was  newly  modeled. 
A  circular  addition,  of  ample  size,  joins  the  dining-room,  being  three  stories 
high,  having  "  a  gable  roof,  dormer  windows  and  handsomely  wrought  stone 
chimneys  separated  by  flying  buttresses.  "  An  octagonal  stone  bay  window 
of  two  stories  adorns  the  mansion.  A  projection  of  the  roof  forms  a  balcony. 
An  oriel  window  with  an  Ogee  roof  has  a  pretty  effect.  A  bay  window  lights 
the  library.     W.  H.  Thomas  was  the  Contractor. 

Mrs.  John  W.  Thomas's  place,  called  Bloomfield,  displays  an  observatory 
where  the  natural  beauties  of  God's  creation  find  proper  culture  and  apprecia- 
tion. The  house  is  large  and  elegant.  Her  husband,  a  well  known  Phila- 
delphia merchant,  and  prominent  resident  here,  was  one  of  the  foremost 
workers  in  founding  St.  Paul's  Episcopal  Church,  Cheltenham,  now  under 
the  rectorship  of  Rev.  Dr.  E.  W.  Appleton,  and  her  son,  Rev.  Richard  Newton 
Thomas  was  the  rector  of  St.  Matthias's  Church,  Philadelphia,  and  St.  Phillip's 
Church,  West  Philadelphia,  and  is  now  one  of  the  editors  of  The  American 
Church  Sunday  School  Magazine  with  Helpful  Words  for  the  Household,  pub- 
lished in  Philadelphia  by  W.  E.  Hering.  Rev.  Dr.  Jas  S.  Stone  and  Rev.  Dr. 
Wm.  W.  Newton  are  co-editors  in  this  useful  publication,  while  George  Clifford 
Thomas,  another  son,  is  a  member  of  the  Drexel  firm,  and  a  devoted  worker 
in  Sunday  School  affairs  in  the  Episcopal  Church  of  the  Holy  Apostles, 
Philadelphia.     He  has  a  country  seat  at  Chestnut  Hill. 

Ella  Mary  Thomas  is  now  Mrs.  G.  H.  Leonard,  of  Boston.  Ida  Martha 
Thomas,  another  daughter,  is  deceased.  Mrs.  Virginia  Rowland,  of  Chelten 
Hills,  the  wife  of  James  Rowland,  resides  next  to  her  mother,  Mrs.  Thomas. 
The  son,  John  Woolman,  and  the  daughter,  Laura  Cooke,  died  in  childhood. 
Rev.  Richard  Newton  Thomas,  bears  the  honored  name  of  the  venerable  and 
saintly  Dr.  Newton  who  was  a  great  friend  of  this  family,  and  thus  they  have 
perpetuated  the  memory  of  one  of  the  most  useful  servants  of  Christ  ever  found 
in  the  ranks  of  the   Christian   ministry.     It  was  the   custom  of  John  W. 


CD 


O 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  145 

Thomas,  before  the  founding  of  St.  Paul's,  Cheltenham,  to  ride  every  Sunday 
morning  in  his  carriage  with  his  family  to  Old  St.  Paul's  Church,  in  3rd 
Street,  to  enjoy  the  faithful  ministrations  of  Dr.  Newton. 

Bloomfield  was  bought  by  Mr.  Thomas  of  Mr.  Simon,  who  purchased  of 
Mr.  Paxson  who  held  a  farm  containing  over  100  acres.  The  entire  ground 
was  bought  by  the  Chelten  Hills  Land  Association,  which  purchased  nearly 
all  the  land  -from  City  Line  to  Church  Lane  on  the  York  Road,  running 
through  to  Washington  Lane  and  along  that  Lane,  and  the  line  of  the  North 
Penn  Rail  Road,  as  then  laid  out,  though  it  was  not  then  built.  This  was 
done  in  1854.  The  Company  divided  the  land  into  sites  for  beautiful  country 
residences,  opening  Avenues,  which  still  bear  the  names  then  given.  Mr. 
Thomas  was  one  of  the  original  twelve  members  of  the  Association ;  E.  M. 
Davis,  Sr.,  was  President.  He  was  Lucretia  Mott's  son-in-law,  and  lived 
where  Mr.  Page  afterward  resided.  F.  M.  Buck's  woods  were  where  Ogontz 
School  lies.  Boys  used  to  play  Indians  there,  and  Cope's  Dam  was  a  swim- 
ming place,  and  there  was  an  ancient  grist  mill  before  Jay  Cooke's  purchase. 

The  late  E.  M.  Davis,  Sr.,  lived  in  a  pleasant  cottage  on  an  elevated  bank, 
with  a  piazza  in  front,  where  Rev.  Dr.  Richard  Newton  had  resided  on  the 
York  Road,  when  a  friend  drove  me  by  these  rural  retreats.  Mr.  Davis  was  a 
relative  of  Lucretia  Mott,  and  here  that  distinguished  member  of  the  Friends' 
Society  died.     Mr.  Davis  has  also  passed  away  from  earth. 

The  Sharpless  property  is  extensive  along  this  part  of  the  Old  York  Road. 
It  is  a  summer  residence. 

The  mansion  of  the  late  E.  M,  Davis,  Jr.  has  a  fine  wood  as  an  inviting 
entrance  with  stone  walls  on  both  sides.  The  substantial  house  of  fine  pro- 
portions is  so  far  from  the  road  as  not  to  be  visible.  It  was  built  by  Isaac 
R.  Davis,  father  of  E.  M.  Davis,  Jr. 

Mr.  William  Fray's  pretty  stone  gate-way  introduces  to  his  handsome 
mansion.  It  is  pleasant  to  see  the  increase  of  the  fashion  of  having  stately 
gate-ways  in  this  country  as  in  England.  It  gives  the  idea  of  solidity,  strength 
and  durability  to  an  estate,  and  the  gates  of  ancient  cities,  according  to  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  were  places  of  meeting  and  counsel,  and  were  very  impor- 
tant.    The  house  stands  a  little  distance  back  from  the  road. 

The  natural  terrace  on  Mr.  R.  J.  Dobbins's  place  is  attractive.  A  square 
tower  and  bay-windows  ornament  the  mansion,  and  must  give  good  oppor- 
tunity to  enjoy  the  surrounding  views.  An  observatory  is  a  desirable  adjunct 
in  this  fine  scenery.  A  green-house  adds  its  charms.  History  gives  special 
interest,  as  Washington  is  said  to  have  dined  under  a  tree  here,  and  the  name 
of  a  patriot  gives  fresh  beauty  to  the  natural  object  which  thus  reflects  the 
higher  glory  of  mental  excellence  by  the  association. 

The  pretty  entrance  and  gatehouse  of  Mr.  Dobbins  are  at  Ashbourne  rail- 
way station  on  the  North  Penn  Rail  Road.     The  name  Ashbourne  is  said  to 
be  from  Lord  Ashbourne's  seat  in  Ireland.      Mr.  Dobbins  was  the  architect  of 
the  Centennial  Building.     He  owns  much  land  here. 
10 


146 


THE  YORK  ROAD. 


Mr.  Henry  H.  Roelof s  place  is  called  "  Rhylon.  "  It  is  one  of  the  most 
comfortable  and  best  arranged  residences  in  this  section.  A  splendid  lawn 
marks  it,  and  the  house  is  an  attractive  one  among  the  many  desirable  man- 
sions in  this  pleasing  suburb.  This  gentleman  introduced  electric  light  with 
his  own  engine  so  that  his  country  house  and  that  of  his  father-in-law^,  Mr. 
Stetson  and  his  neighbor,  Mr,  Fray,  shine  at  night  with  a  city  brilliance,  while 
he  has  not  forgotten  St.  Paul's  Church  in  his  improvements,  and  has  had 
electric  light  placed  in  that  sacred  building,  already  famed  in  an  American 
country  district  for  its  chime  of  bells.  If  all  laymen  were  like  minded, 
churches  would  not  lack  needed  improvements,  and  the  donors  would  find 
the  best  investments  in  laying  up  heavenly  treasure  in  thus  giving  to  the 
Lord  what  He  has  first  given  to  them.  Trinity  Episcopal  Church,  West 
Chester  has  had  a  tower  built  by  the  legacy  of  a  young  man  and  has  a  chime 
of  bells. 


IDRO. 

This  property,  the  name  of  which  is  a  Russian  word  meaning,  cool  and 
pleasant,  and  on  wiiich  the  residence  of  John  B.  Stetson,  Esq.,  is  situated  is 
one  of  the  most  prominent  and  pleasing  along  York  Road  and  situated  near 
the  junction  of  that  road  with  Cheltenham  Road,  and  comprises  15  acres. 

The  grounds  are  laid  out  in  an  attractive  manner  and  in  such  a  way  as  " 
to  give  the  best  effect  to  the  buildings  which  are  situated  on  the  top  of  a  knoll 
which  is  partly  wooded  and  partly  lawn,  interspersed  with  winding  roads,  a 
large  pool,  flower  beds,  wiiich  display  good  taste  of  landscape  gardening.  The 
buildings  comprise  a  large  conservatory,  two  rose  houses  and  large  stable,  in 
which  building  is  the  machinery  for  supplying  steam  for  heating  and  power 


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THE  YORK  ROAD. 


151 


for  electric  lighting  of  the  property.  At  the  rear  of  the  stable  is  a  pigeonnier 
in  the  French  style,  with  attractive  surroundings. 

The  main  residence  with  which  we  have  most  to  do,  however,  has  been 
from  time  to  time  extended  from  its  original  size  of  40  feet  square  until  with 
its  latest  extension  it  is  150  feet  front  and  120  feet  deep,  over  extreme  meas- 
urements, being  L  shaped. 

The  exterior  and  indeed  the  whole  building  follows  closely  the  archi- 
tecture of  the  time  of  Francis  I,  the  type  adapting  itself  in  the  mind  of  the 
Architect,  Mr,  Pearson,  in  this  case  to  the  expression  sought  and  which  would 
be  most  effective  for  the  situation. 

The  house  is  built  mainly  of  local  stone  wdtli  Indiana  stone  trimmings 
and  has  mullioned  windows  and  two  rather  elaborate  bays  on  the  corner, 
terminating  in  balconies  and  copper  domes. 


The  southern  end  of  the  house  has  a  roofed  veranda  15  feet  wide  made 
with  a  wooden  superstructure  on  a  stone  coped  wall  and  on  the  York  Road 
and  rear  fronts  is  an  uncovered  terrace  15  feet  wade  wdth  a  stone  balustrade 
and  laid  in  plain  tiles. 

The  roof  is  of  corrugated  Akron  tiles  with  cut  stone  dormer  windows  and 
chimney.  Entrance  is  made  from  the  wagon  road  under  a  porte-cochere 
through  a  carved  oak  door  way  into  a  large  hall  32  feet  by  40  feet,  finished  in 
quartered  oak  of  antique  color ;  this  hall  w^as  the  original  house  and  in  the 
recent  alteration  was  changed  into  a  large  hall  running  up  two  stories  in 
height,  with  five  feet  galleries  running  around  its  four  sides. 

Opposite  the  entrance  door  in  this  hall  is  the  main  stairway  12  feet  by 
20  feet,  entrance  to  which  is  had  through  a  triple  archway,  and  which  has  a 


152  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

handsomely  carved  balustrade  and  newels  and  is  lighted  by  a  large  stained 
glass  window. 

At  the  left  of  the  entrance  is  a  massive  red  stone  fireplace  12  feet  front, 
carved  and  wuth  tracery  and  other  characteristics  of  the  style. 

This  hall  is  wainscoted  between  the  first  floor  and  gallery  to  the  full 
height  with  panelling  and  above  that  a  plain  wall  with  a  ceiling  of  carved 
beams  one  of  which  is  supported  at  each  end  by  caryatides  resting  on  clus- 
tered columns  which  rise  from  the  main  floor.  The  light  for  this  hall  is  fur- 
nished by  a  large  window  in  the  front,  12  feet  by  20  feet,  having  stone  mull- 
ions  and  handsome  glass. 

Just  to  the  right  of  the  entrance  is  a  large  pipe  organ  built  by  Roosevelt 
of  New  York ;  it  is  built  in  a  chamber  extending  outside  of  the  hall  and  is  a 
very  fine  instrument  as  to  its  musical  properties,  having  considerable  sweet- 
ness and  variety  of  tone.     The  walls  of  this  hall  are  all  painted  in  plain  color. 

To  the  right  of  the  main  hall  is  the  dining  room,  16  feet  by  24  feet, 
finished  throughout  in  mahogany  and  being  lighted  by  electric  bull  eyes  in 
the  mahogany  panels  of  the  ceiling  and  a  china  closet  and  dressoir  are  built 
into  the  thickness  of  the  wall.  There  are  three  handsome  windows  in  this 
room  with  stone  mul lions  and  figurative  stained  glass  windows  by  Tiffany,  of 
New  York  and  designed  by  Church. 

To  the  rear  of  the  dining  room  are  the  pantry,  servants'  dining  room, 
kitchen  and  laundry,  the  two  latter  being  finished  with  tile  wainscoting  and 
extending  up  into  the  roof  which  is  one  story  high. 

Adjoining  the  main  stairway  and  facing  the  front  door  is  the  breakfast 
room  from  which  access  is  had  through  the  side  hall  adjoining,  with  the  ser- 
vants' quarters.  At  the  other  side  of  the  fireplace  are  large  arched  openings, 
heavily  carved  and  giving  access  to  the  drawing  room  which  is  17  feet  by  29 
feet  with  three  large  windows  facing  York  Road  and  finished  throughout  with 
white  maple  of  a  very  delicate  design. 

The  other  archway  affords  access  to  the  side  hall,  12  feet  by  29  feet,  which 
adjoins  the  office,  16  feet  by  16  feet,  and  a  lavatory  and  outer  door  to  the  rear 
terrace. 

Extending  across  the  whole  length  of  the  south  end  of  the  house  and 
across  the  end  of  the  drawing  room  and  side  hall  is  the  library,  29  feet  by  33 
feet,  finished  throughout  with  fine  carved  mahogany  wainscoting  and  having 
a  bay  window  at  each  corner,  10  feet  by  12  feet,  wdth  domed  ceiling  and  book 
cases  built  into  the  thickness  of  the  wall  and  a  handsome  fireplace  of  carved 
Csen  stone. 

In  the  second  story  access  is  had  from  the  gallery  or  great  hall  to  the 
sleeping  apartments  to  the  left  end,  comprising  three  large  bed  rooms,  boudoir 
and  two  private  bath  rooms  all  finished  in  hard  wood. 

To  the  right  of  this  great  hall,  in  the  second  story  are  other  bed  rooms, 
bath  rooms  and  a  music  room  with  large  fireplace  and  timbered  ceiling. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  153 

In  the  third  story  are  a  large  gymnasium  and  a  number  of  sleeping  and 
bath  rooms. 

Owing  to  the  favorable  situation  of  the  house,  the  views  from  all  the 
rooms  in  any  direction  are  very  pleasing,  extending  over  quite  a  large  area 
of  woodland  fields  and  roads,  and  there  is  throughout,  that  sense  of  quiet 
repose  which  can  only  come  in  places  situated  like  this,  away  from  scenes  of 
work  and  turmoil. 

A  goodly  number  of  forest  trees  have  been  left  to  adorn  the  place  and 
mingle  old  beauties  with  new.  The  rolling  character  of  the  ground  makes  a 
constant  picture.  It  is  an  ideal  summer  country  place.  Mr.  Stevenson  the  land- 
scape gardener  has  arranged  many  pleasing  curves  which  vary  the  lawn  with 
lines  of  beauty.  The  wall  on  Juniper  Avenue,  with  its  picturesque  broken  top, 
makes  an  ornamental  boundary.  Mr.  Stetson  also  owns  the  adjoining  place 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Avenue.  This  gentleman,  with  Christian  benevo- 
lence, sustains  a  Chapel  at  his  manufactory  at  Fourth  Street  and  Montgomery 
Avenue.  The  Company  which  bears  his  honored  name  has  one  of  the  largest 
establishments  of  its  kind  in  this  country.  Mr.  Stetson  is  also  largely  inter- 
ested in  De  Land,  Florida,  where  he  spends  his  winters. 

There  are  two  entrances,  with  stone  gatew^ays,  to  this  country  place ;  one 
on  York  Road,  and  the  other  on  Juniper  Avenue.  The  ground  slopes  in  both 
directions  to  the  lake.  A  tropical  bed  of  plants,  and  another  of  hardy  shrub- 
bery are  on  the  border  of  the  lake.  Two  weeping  willows  overhang  it,  while 
white  oaks,  pin  oaks,  black  oaks  and  chestnuts,  and  a  beautiful  hemlock 
spruce,  standing  by  the  conservatories  at  the  north  end  of  the  mansion,  give 
life  to  the  scene.  A  bridge  on  the  Old  York  Road,  with  its  picturesque  arch 
of  stone,  and  the  stream  running  beneath  it  gives  a  pretty  view. 

Directly  east  of  the  St.  Paul's  Church  is  Chestnut  Woodbine  the  residence 
of  Jay  Cooke,  Jr.,  embosomed  in  the  trees.  Beyond  lies  the  picturesque  and 
growing  village  of  Ashbourne. 

There  are  three  splendid  modern  stone  cottages  with  shingle  work  (one 
being  partly  of  brick),  w^hich  are  gems  of  architecture  (designed  by  Furness 
Evans)  on  the  York  Road.  These  are  the  dwellings  of  George  S.  Fox,  the 
broker,  and  his  tw^o  sons,  Caleb  F.  and  Frederick  Morton  Fox.  There  are 
pretty  piazzas  and  the  remarkably  fine  law^n  has  a  natural  terrace.  Two 
flower  beds  on  the  upper  side  were  specially  noticeable.  The  high  position 
gives  some  of  the  finest  sites  on  the  Old  York  Road  to  these  buildings. 

Mr.  Joseph  Bosler's  house  stands  in  a  pretty  yard.  It  was  the  home  of 
his  father,  Charles  Rosier.  The  place  receives  notice  in  Beans'  History  of 
Montgomery  County.  It  is  occupied  by  Joseph  P.  Truitt,  of  the  firm  of 
Thomas  Dolan  &  Co.,  Manufacturers.  Bosler's  antique  mill  modernized,  has 
a  mansard  roof  with  fancy  windows. 

The  picturesque  old  bridge  over  Tacony  Creek  has  a  tablet  marked 
"  Cheltenham  bridge,  1798,  7J  miles  to  Philadelphia. "  The  toll-gate  is  an 
ancient  looking  cottage. 


154  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

The  first  place  where  Jay  Cooke  sojourned  in  this  section  was  Valley 
Farm  House,  at  the  corner  of  Washington  and  Church  Lanes.  The  house 
faces  on  Church  Lane.     The  property  belongs  to  Dr.  Shoemaker. 

Engle's  store  is  modernized.  An  old  fashioned  country  tavern  is  noticea- 
ble. Dr.  Bray's  Coal  and  Lumber  Yard  is  near  the  York  Road  Station  (now 
Ogontz).  This  was  the  principal  station  on  this  end  of  the  railway,  but  now 
Jenkintown  is  important,  as  the  junction  of  the  North  Penn  and  New  York 
line  connecting  with  the  Bound  Brook  route. 

There  was  a  log  building  on  Charles  Wilson's  place  which  was  demol- 
ished by  John  Leibert. 

Mr.  Loeb's  fine  stone  house  with  its  extensive  lawn  was  part  of  Jay 
Cooke's  land. 

The  following  is  from  The  Miller's  Review,  of  October  15th,  1883  : 

THE  CHELTENHAM  ROLLER  MILLS.    ' 

The  older  mill  had  its  venerable  complement  of  machinery  for  flour 
making  as  used  in  times  gone  by.  The  new  establishment  is  fitted  up  with 
all  the  improvements  and  accessories  that  mone}^  and  skill  can  furnish.  It  is 
unnecessary  to  say  that  the  old  mill  has  made  money  for  its  owner  in  its  time, 
and  it  might  have  continued,  in  a  measure,  to  do  so,  but  with  the  advent  of 
the  new  methods  now  in  use  for  flour  manufacture,  it  was  soon  apparent  that 
the  time  had  come  to  so  alter  the  old  mill  that  it  would  readily  compete  with 
those  in  the  west,  and  with  such  as  had  been  refitted  in  its  own  State,  and 
thus  produce  such  brands  or  grades  of  flour  as  would  fully  hold  their  own 
with  the  best  produced  anywhere.  How  well  this  has  been  accomplished  is 
testified  by  the  work  the  mill  is  now  doing. 

The  location  of  the  mill  is  one  of  the  wealthiest  and  best  agricultural  sec- 
tions of  the  State,  the  soil  being  unusually  deep,  and  underlaid  by  limestone, 
which,  as  we  all  know,  gives  a  good  grain-producing  soil. 

The  farmers  in  the  vicinity  raise  large  crops,  and  it  may  possibly  be  said 
that  ahnost  all  kinds  and  qualities  of  grain  are  delivered  at  the  mill  to  be 
turned  into  flour,  from  which  it  will  be  understood  that  only  tlie  most  careful 
milling,  together  with  approved  machinery  for  the  purpose,  can  turn  out  a 
line  of  work  that  will  be  satisfactory  to  both  its  home  patrons  and  to  those  at 
a  distance.  This  is  just  what  the  new  mill  is  now  doing.  To  render  assur- 
ance doubly  sure,  Mr.  James  Dawson  has  located  himself  at  the  mill  for  a 
few  weeks  to  keep  watch  upon  the  workings  of  the  minutest  details  of  the  new 
outfit,  and  to  answer  any  calls  that  may  be  made  upon  his  skill  and  exper- 
ience by  those  who  will  hereafter  have  charge  of  the  working  of  the  new 
machinery.  This  is  done  more  as  a  matter  of  pride  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Dawson, 
as  the  mill  was  declared  perfect  by  Mr.  Joseph  Rosier  when  it  was  finished. 

In  addition  to  the  grain  received  from  the  immediate  neighborhood,  the 
mill  will  consume  large  quantities  of  the  best  wheat  grown  in  the  west,  which 


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THE  YORK  KOAD.  159 

will  enable  it  to  supply  the  Philadelphia  and  other  markets  with  the  choicest 
grades  of  flour,  and  with  the  assurance  that  these  grades  will  be  kept  up  to 
the  standard  looked  for  by  careful  and  exacting  buyers.  The  suryivitig 
member  of  the  firm  being  one  of  the  most  active  members  of  the  Philadelphia 
Commercial  Exchange,  the  products  of  the  mill  will  doubtless  be  extenaiVely/, 
handled  at  that  mart,  and  should  make  a  reputation  for  themselves  that/v/ill'- 
fully  satisfy  every  expectation. 

(Jharles  E.  Barney,  son-in-law  of  Jay  Cooke  resides  in  the  large  pleasant' 
stone  mansion  trimmed  with  brick  with  its  shaded  lawn,  and  here  Mr.'.Cook^- 
makes  his  home.  ,';'''' 

Mr.  Barney's  former  house  was  burned  a  few  years  ago,  and  thts  Jine 
Queen  Anno  cottage  took  its  place.     It  is  called  Eildon. 

Mr.  Samuel  Harlan  Price,  grandson  of  Mr.  Harlan,  of  Harlan,  Hollings- 
worth  &  Co.,  Shipbuilders,  in  Wilmington,  Delaware,  ow^ns  the  house  w^hich 
Mr.  Robert  Shoemaker  built  for  his  son. 

Next  above  the  St.  Paul's  Rectory  is  the  stone  cottage  of  Mr.  Schofield. 
These  two  houses  together  make  a  pretty  picture. 

Between  Mr.  Fray's  and  Mr.  Stetson's  places  is  Mr.  Sh inn's  residence 
which  is  a  neat  cottage. 

Next  below  Mr.  Fray's  is  the  house  of  Edward  M.  Davis,  Sr.,  son-in-law 
of  the  late  Lucretia  Mott.  Here  Mrs.  Mott  lived  for  many  years  and  here  she 
died.     This  is  called  "  Roadside." 

Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Company,  in  1884,  issued  the  Life  and  Letters  of 
James  and  Lucretia  Mott,  edited  by  their  granddaughter,  Anna  Davis  Hallo- 
well.  The  pictures  of  the  aged  couple  are  given  as  a  striking  frontispiece, 
while  the  homes  of  Lucretia  Mott,  comprising  "  Roadside,  "  adorn  the  volume. 
Mrs.  Mott  was  born  in  an  ancient  shingled  house  at  Cowneck,  on  Long  Island. 
She  and  her  husband  were  teachers  in  a  Friends'  Boarding  School.  The 
father  of  Lucretia  Coffin,  who  became  Lucretia  Mott  by  marriage,  was  a  sea- 
captain,  who  owned  his  vessel.  His  return  from  his  voyages  gave  much 
pleasure  to  his  family.  The  father  entered  into  business  in  Boston,  but 
removed  to  Philadelphia. 

Mrs.  Mott  was  by  nature  a  woman  of  deep  reflection,  intellectual, 
active,  and  benevolent.  Her  anti-slavery  sentiments  are  well  known,  and  she 
suffered  danger  in  her  efforts  to  propagate  her  views.  She  was  naturally 
strong,  but  exhausted  herself  in  her  heroism. 

James  and  Lucretia  Mott  lived  "  some  twenty  years  "  in  "  an  old  fashioned 
house,  with  a  large  garden,  and  a  stable  in  the  rear "  in  "  Ninth  Street 
between  Race  and  Vine  Streets. "  In  1850,  Edward  M.  Davis,  who  was  the 
husband  of  their  daughter  Maria,  w^ith  his  brother-in-law,  Thomas  Mott, 
bought  the  "  Oak  Farm  "  on  the  York  Road.  "  The  house  at  'Roadside'  was  a 
sunny  old  place,  surrounded  at  first  by  cherry  and  apple  and  pear  trees; 
afterwards  by  maple  and  oak. "     There  was  a  small  farm  house,  but  additions 


160  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

were  made  rendering  it  "  a  substantial  country  residence.  Internally  it  had 
the  charm  of  oddly-shaped  rooms  and  queer  passages,  with  unexpected  turn- 
ings/,and  steps  up  in  one  place,  and  down  in  another.  The  home  had  an 
ai^;()(;hospitality  and  good  cheer,  "  A  Friend  said  "  James  Mott's  greeting  is 
Ik  bfenediction.  "  Mrs.  Mott  loved  to  read  aloud  to  the  household.  In  1861 
' '{h^'.c'Golden  Wedding  was  celebrated.  The  husband  died  in  1868,  and  the 
^tvifpjh  1880.  They  were  buried  side  by  side  "  in  the  Friends'  burying  ground 
at  ^Wp  Hill,  "  Philadelphia. 

V       Edward  M.  Wistar  has  lately  bought  the  mansion  called  "Roadside," 
r^whioh' was  so  long  the  home  of  the  Motts. 

^  *         *  *  •  * 

CHURCH  ROAD. 

On  the  west  side  of  York  Road  the  first  fine  property  is  that  of  General 
Ario  Pardee,  which  lies  on  a  hill  on  the  right.  It  is  a  handsome  stone  resi- 
dence, built  by  Chas.  L.  Sharpless,  and  occupied  by  him  until  he  moved  into 
his  house  on  the  York  Road. 

On  Church  Lane,  beyond  Washington  Lane,  the  residences  of  Abraham 
Barker  and  his  son,  the  well-known  Wharton  Barker,  are  noteworthy. 

Church  Road  was  so  called  because  more  than  a  century  ago  it  led 
between  Trinity  Episcopal  Church,  Oxford  and  St.  Thomas's  Church,  White- 
marsh.  The  Ministers  of  the  English  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts  used  to  travel  this  road  in  days  when  the  population 
was  more  scarce,  and  when  the  parochial  work  was  toilsome. 

HOMEWOOD. 

This  place  is  a  short  distance  from  Ashbourne  bounded  by  Mill  Road, 
Oxford  Church  Road,  and  New  Second  Street. 

Joel  B.  Moorhead  lived  here  for  many  years. 

Robert  Alexander,  Esq.,  of  Philadelphia  bought  of  the  Camp  family. 

He  has  modernized  the  old  stone  house,  and  has  made  a  beautiful  lawn 
of  several  acres  with  fine  shrubbery. 

The  first  purchase  was  eighteen  acres,  and  the  same  amount  has  been 
added  by  buying  the  adjoining  land  from  Richard  J.  Dobbins. 

Mr.  Alexander  has  built  twenty-four  dwellings  on  this  property  and 
opened  a  new  avenue  known  as  Homewood  Avenue,  giving  convenient  access 
to  his  own  homestead. 

SPRING  AVENUE 

Commences  at  the  York  Road  below  Shoemakertown,  and  runs  circuit- 
ously  to  Chelten  Avenue,  making  a  turn  at  Ogontz  Gate. 

Next  to  Mr.  Barney's  place  on  Spring  Avenue  is  the  fine  stone  house  of 
J.  M.  Butler,  who  married  the  younger  daughter  of  Jay  Cooke. 


11 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  165 

Next  comes  the  pleasant  and  handsome  stone  mansion  of  Dell  Noblitt. 
This  is  a  fine  property  of  attractive  appearance.  Mr.  Noblitt  has  long  been 
known  in  business  circles  in  Philadelphia,  and  has  been  an  active  member  of 
St.  Paul's  Episcopal  Church,  Cheltenham. 

Opposite  to  this  place  is  the  spacious  residence  of  Wm.  Dawson,  a  Phila- 
delphia merchant. 

Next  beyond  Ogontz  lies  the  property  of  a  son  of  the  late  Thomas  Mellor, 
who  occupied  the  residence  for  many  years. 

Next  to  the  Cheltenham  Academy,  on  Cheltenham  Avenue,  is  the  attract- 
ive residence  of  James  Day  Rowland. 

Directly  opposite  Mr.  Shoemaker's  residence  is  a  pleasant  and  attractive 
cottage  which  was  once  presented  by  Jay  Cooke  to  his  rector,  the  late  excel- 
lent and  revered  Rev.  Dr.  Richard  Newton. 

Mr.  William  Massey  has  a  fine  place  on  County  Line,  between  York 
Road  and  Washington  Lane. 

Near  Chelten  Avenue  is  the  elegant  residence  of  Wm.  L.  Elkins  bought 
of  John  H.  Michener. 

The  Philadelphia  Inquirer,  March  13th,  1888,  publishes  this  notice : 

The  property  formerly  owned  by  John  Michener  at  Chelten  Hills,  which 
was  purchased  by  William  L.  Elkins,  has  been  entirely  refitted.  The  house 
stands  back  from  Chelten  Avenue  on  the  Ashbourne  Road,  on  an  elevation 
surrounded  by  an  extensive  lawn,  in  a  thick  growth  of  trees,  commanding  a 
fine  view  of  the  surrounding  country.  The  building,  before  alteration,  was  in 
the  style  of  architecture  so  much  in  vogue  a  half  century  ago,  but  with  possi- 
bilities which  have  been  amplified  upon  by  the  architect.  The  first  radical 
change  was  a  new  roof,  beautifully  formed  and  broken  with  gables  and  dormer 
windows,  the  designer  evidently  having  Hawthorne  in  mind,  as  the  gables 
number  seven.  A  new  story  was  also  added  to  the  rear  portion  of  the  house 
for  the  accommodation  of  servants.  The  addition  of  a  new  porch  gives  the 
necessary  shade  to  the  lower  rooms,  and  a  stone  porte-cochere  has  been  built 
on  the  main  front,  of  rough  quarry  faced  stone,  of  modern  English  design. 
The  architect  was  Mr.  Angus  S.  Wade.     Charles  McCaul  was  the  contractor. 

The  late  Dr.  Shoemaker  had  a  pleasant  old  stone  house  as  his  residence. 

Casper  Haycock,  the  florist,  has  a  neat  cottage  near  Chelten  Hills  Station 
and  Mrs.  and  Miss  Haycock  conduct  a  Boarding  and  Day  School  there  for 
boys  and  girls. 

A  stone  quarry  is  on  Wm.  C.  Kent's  estate  here. 

About  thirty  years  ago  Robert  Shoemaker  purchased  a  piece  of  land  on 
the  west  side  of  York  Road,  just  above  Cheltenham  Lane,  and  extending 
along  that  lane  to  Washington  Lane. 

He  erected  the  handsome  and  stately  three  story  mansion  of  stone,  quar- 
ried from  the  top  of  the  hill  on  which  the  house  stands.  It  is  built  on  a  rock 
foundation. 


166  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

He  named  the  place  Ingleside.  Here  he  resided  about  eight  years,  and 
then  removed  to  his  present  residence  on  Cheltenham  Avenue,  near  Shoe- 
makertown. 

He  sold  the  place  to  Mr.  David  B.  Ervin,  of  Philadelphia.  After  residing 
here  some  eight  years,  Mr.  Ervin  sold  the  property  to  Mr.  Wm.  V.  Pettit  of 
Philadelphia,  who  has  since  resided  on  it.  Mr.  Shoemaker  was  one  of  the 
earliest  improvers  of  this  section  of  the  country  and  he  selected  a  remarkably 
fine  location.  The  dwelling  stands  on  an  elevation,  and  a  natural  terrace 
falls  in  front  toward  the  conservatory.  An  ample  piazza  surrounds  this  taste- 
ful mansion.     Mr.  Pettit  has  now  moved  to  Germantown. 

On  the  hill  opposite,  Mr.  John  Wanamaker  has  erected  a  fine  country  res- 
idence. 

The  house  is  built  of  stone  quarried  on  the  place. 

The  residence  is  pleasantly  located  on  a  hill  top,  and  may  be  seen  at  a 
distance  in  the  surrounding  country. 

The  cupola  and  piazzas  with  their  red  roofs  make  a  striking  object  in  the 
scenery. 

The  estate  covers  some  sixty  acres,  and  is  enclosed  in  front  by  a  stone 
wall.  The  entrances  on  York  Road  and  at  Chelten  Hills  Station  have  stone 
gate-posts  of  large  proportions. 

A  part  of  this  property  can  be  traced  back  to  the  ownership  of  John 
Russell,  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  the  country. 

Adjoining  Mr.  Pettit's  place  on  the  north,  Edward  T.  Stotesbury,  of 
Drexel  &  Co.,  has  erected  a  Queen  Anne  frame  cottage,  which  has  a  pretty 
lawn  stretching  around  it,  and  the  property  now  includes  the  former  residence 
of  Mr.  George  S.  Fox,  now  occupied  by  Ellis  D.  Williams,  of  Philadelphia. 

Opposite  to  the  place  last  mentioned  is  the  house  of  Mrs.  Goforth,  widow 
of  John  Goforth,  a  well  known  lawyer  of  Philadelphia,  and  atone  time  Assist- 
ant Attorney  General  of  the  United  States. 

The  old  well  at  the  summer  house  on  the  Goforth  place  was  of  remarka- 
ble excellence.  In  old  times  the  teamsters  used  to  water  their  horses  from  it 
in  passing. 

An  old  stone  house  on  the  upper  part  of  the  property,  now  used  as  a 
lodge,  is  an  antique.  It  was  once  occupied  by  Mr.  Livezey.  Pleasant  trees 
shade  the  lawn  ;  indeed  the  appropriate  name  of  the  estate  is  Woodlawn  Man- 
sion. An  old  pine  tree  in  front  of  the  farm  house  is  a  land  mark  which  has 
been  of  service  as  a  mark  in  surveying. 

The  house  was  erected  by  Mr.  Webb ;  it  was  purchased  after  Mr.  Megar- 
gee's  death  by  John  Goforth,  Esq.,  of  Philadelphia,  and  used  as  a  country 
seat  until  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Goforth,  in  1880,  when  it  became  the  perma- 
nent home  of  the  family. 

The  house  is  constructed  of  brick  and  weather-boarded  on  the  outside, 
with  pleasant  piazzas  in  front  and  rear,  and  large,  square  rooms  with  high 
ceilings.     An  abundance  of  fruit  trees  are  on  the  place. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  167 

At  Chelten  Hills  Station  the  farm  of  Isaac  Mather,  with  its  good  farm 
house  forms  a  part  of  the  old  Russell  property,  already  mentioned,  Mr.  Mather 
being  a  descendant  of  the  Russell  family.  The  land  has  been  in  the  family 
over  two  hundred  years. 

An  ancient  story  and  a  half  farm  house  of  stone  in  the  rear  of  Mr. 
Mather's  house  is  very  picturesque. 

Some  grafted  chestnut  trees  beautify  the  lane  which  leads  to  it. 

L.  Rodman  Wanamaker,  son  of  John  Wanamaker,  lives  in  a  fine  old 
stone  house  on  Cheltenham  Avenue,  with  modern  improvements,  near  Chelten 
Hills  Station  on  the  North  Penn  Rail  Road. 

JULIANA'S  CAVE 

Is  on  the  North  Penn  Rail  Road,  between  Chelten  Hills  and  Church  Road 
Stations.     It  is  visible  on  the  east  side  of  the  road. 

Juliana  Kirkbride,  who  was  of  a  literary  turn,  used  to  go  there  to  read 
when  she  was  living  in  Shoemakertown  with  the  Shoemaker  family  fifty  or 
sixty  years  ago.  This  gave  the  name  to  this  rocky  spot.  Russell  Smith  has 
painted  it,  and  has  a  copy  of  the  scene  at  his  home,  while  another  is  in  the 
study  of  Rev.  Dr.  E.  W..  Appleton  at  Shoemakertown. 

The  cave  was  on  the  Shoemaker  property,  which  now  belongs  to  Joseph 
Bosler. 

MILLS. 

Rice's  grist  mill  about  a  half  mile  above  Jenkintown  Station  is  one  of  the 
ancient  mills  of  this  section. 

About  the  same  distance  below  Jenkintown  Station  was  Mather's  mill, 
which  is  now  used  in  connection  with  the  Water  Works  of  John  Wanamaker. 

A  mile  below  that  was  Shoemaker's  mill,  now  Bosler's  mill. 

Next  below  this,  about  half  a  mile  distant  was  a  grist  mill,  the  water 
power  of  which  is  used  as  a  fork  mill. 

A  little  below  that,  is  the  Hammond  mill  for  the  manufacture  of  edge 
tools. 

Tacony  Creek  is  the  water  power  of  all  these  mills. 

WYNCOTE. 

Wyncote  is  a  new  village  below  the  Jenkintown  depot  with  pleasant 
cottages  on  the  hillside. 

Numerous  freight  and  passenger  trains  passing  the  Jenkintown  depot 
seem  to  spring  out  of  the  earth,  as  they  suddenly  round  their  curves. 

The  present  stone  station  was  erected  about  twenty  years  ago.  Before- 
that  time  a  small  frame  station  stood  on  the  other  side  of  the  railway.  There 
is  a  news-stand  where  reading  matter  may  be  procured  to  support  the  mind,. 


168  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

and  canes  to  support  the  body,  while  good  water  is  at  hand  from  Nature's 
reservoir  to  cheer  the  thirsty.  A  pubHc  fountain  would  look  pretty  at  the 
base  of  the  hill. 

Rev.  Dr.  Steel  once  had  a  Girls'  Boarding  School  in  the  house  occupied 
by  Dr.  Newton.  Mrs.  John  J.  C.  Harvey,  a  daughter  of  this  clergyman,  has 
resided  at  Mr.  Harper's. 

Fleck's  Hall  is  a  place  for  public  uses  in  Jenkintown. 

Thomas  Nicholson  resides  on  Greenwood  Avenue.  This  avenue  was 
named  by  Philadelphians  living  on  Church  Road. 

Dr.  Randle  is  one  of  the  physicians  of  the  village,  while  Dr.  J.  Elwood 
Peters  has  a  fine  stone  house  on  the  York  Road,  near  Washington  Lane.  Dr. 
Jno.  Paxson  lives  in  a  pleasant  old  stone  mansion  above  the  Bank,  while  Dr. 
Heritage  is  in  a  pleasant  cottage  on  a  high  bank  on  a  street  which  runs 
toward  the  depot.  The  country  is  rolling,  both  in  and  out  of  the  town,  making 
a  pleasant  effect. 

Charles  Harper's  former  grocery  store  on  the  York  Road,  corner  of  West 
Avenue,  is  a  busy  place  where  Jenki^itowners  procure  the  necessaries  of  life. 
It  is  now  owned  and  kept  by  C.  H.  Millar. 

The  baker  who  feeds  the  town  is  L.  Troelsch,  and  his  business  is  an 
important  one  to  hungry  mortals. 

Charles  Mather,  Esq.,  Notary  of  the  Bank,  named  Webster  Street  from 
Naylor  Webster,  who  had  property  on  it. 

West  Avenue  is  so  named  because  it  runs  west  from  the  York  Road.  It 
was  called  the  Lime  Kiln  Road,  and  was  laid  out  in  1724  from  Thomas  Fitz- 
water's  lime  kilns  at  Fitzwatertown  to  Abington. 

Cedar  and  Maple  Streets  were  named  at  Colonel  Child's  suggestion, 
Cherry  and  Pear  Streets  had  a  cherry  and  pear  tree  in  them,  Leedom  Street 
commemorates  an  old  family.  Willow  Street  had  a  willow  tree  in  it.  Charles 
Mather,  Esq.,  named  the  streets  last  mentioned. 

Hon.  Joseph  A.  Shoemaker's  house  is  in  the  upper  part  of  Jenkintown, 
near  the  entrance  to  Mrs.  Baeder's  place.  There  is  a  fine  yard  ornamented 
with  flowers.  Mr.  Shoemaker  has  been  known  as  a  member  of  the  Legislature. 
Nearly  opposite  is  the  beautiful  Tiiompson  place  standing  back  from  the  road. 
It  is  a  summer  residence. 

Warner  Raisen,  a  Philadelphia  merchant  had  an  old  brown  house  oppo- 
site the  road  to  Abington  meeting  on  York  Road.     He  died  lately. 

Dr.  Fred.  J.  Van  Dyke  owned  the  dwelling  and  Rev.  H.  J.  Van  Dyke, 
D.  D.  and  Fred.  A.  and  James  C,  his  brothers,  used  to  live  here. 

JENKINTOWN  BAPTIST  CHURCH. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Stager,  pastor  of  the  Baptist  Church  of  Milestown,  started 
a  Sunday  School  in  the  Jenkintown  Lyceum  about  twelve  years  ago.  Theo- 
dore Rorer  was  an  assistant  in  this  good  work. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  169 

Occasional  services  were  also  held  in  the  same  place,  and  in  time,  regular 
services  were  maintained  by  the  students  of  Crozer  Theological  Seminary  from 
Upland,  near  Chester. 

This  was  followed  by  the  securing  of  the  services  of  Rev.  Josiah  Philips, 
who  had  been  pastor  at  Milestown  and  North  "Wales,  successively. 

The  membership  was  formally  constituted  into  a  Baptist  Church. 

It  was  thought  desirable  to  have  a  location  for  a  building  and  a  lot  was 
obtained,  and  plans  were  procured  for  a  house  of  worship. 

A  portion  of  the  designed  building  was  erected  of  stone  and  has  been  in 
use  several  years. 

At  the  dedication  of  the  church  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  G.  Weston,  President  of 
Crozer  Theological  Seminary  preached  the  sermon. 

Mr.  Philips  resigned  the  pastorship  by  reason  of  declining  health  and 
Rev.  Albert  J.  Shoemaker,  a  graduate  of  Crozer  Seminary  became  pastor. 

He  felt  moved  to  do  western  work  on  the  frontier,  and  an  opportunity  for 
educational  work  in  the  Indian  Territory  coming  before  him  Providentially 
he  entered  the  opening,  and  in  a  few  months  closed  his  earthly  career,  and  his 
work  for  Christ.  His  parishioners  mourned  his  departure  from  them,  and 
sincerely  grieved  over  his  death,  draping  the  pulpit  in  mourning  as  a  token 
of  sorrow\ 

In  the  autumn  of  A.  D.  1886,  Rev.  Benjamin  P.  Hope,  who  had  then 
recently  graduated  at  Crozer  Theological  Seminary  succeeded  to  ihh  pastorate. 

He  was  successful  in  his  work  as  was  also  his  predecessor. 

The  church  has  been  favored  with  an  excellent  succession  of  clergy  who 
have  had  the  esteem  of  those  in  and  out  of  the  congregation. 

The  ample  lot  on  the  corner  of  Beechwood  Avenue  and  Walnut  Street  on 
which  the  church  stands  was  the  donation  of  a  member  of  the  church.  Such 
donations  are  a  lasting  benefit  to  the  conducting  of  Christian  work. 

Mr.  Hope  was  followed  by  Rev.  A.  R.  Medbury,  who  is  now  in  charge  of 
the  parish. 

THE  POST  OFFICE. 

The  Post  Office  was  at  one  time  at  Cottman's  Hotel ;  afterward  it  was  kept 
in  Wilson's  store ;  then  it  passed  to  Samuel  Conrad's  Feed  Store,  and  was  held 
by  him  when  he  removed  his  place  of  business  from  the  east  to  the  west  side 
of  York  Avenue. 

Then  Charles  Harper  became  post-master  in  1872,  at  his  general  store  at 
the  corner  of  West  and  York  Avenues. 

In  October  of  1885  it  was  removed  to  the  store  of  E.  Weak  &  Brother  at 
the  lower  corner  of  Greenwood  and  York  Avenues. 

The  post-office  has  fourteen  daily  mails. 

It  should  be  stated  that  A.  Jackson  Smith  held  the  office  after  Chas.  F. 
Wilson's  second  term  of  office,  he  having  been  twice  post-master. 


170  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

John  Barnes,  an  English  member  of  the  Friends'  Society,  took  up  250 
acres  of  land  from  Wm.  Penn,  August  1st.,  A.  D.  1684,  running  from  Town- 
ship Line  between  Cheltenham  and  Abington  to  Susquehanna  Avenue. 

Sarah  Fuller,  in  May  18th,  1664,  took  up  600  acres  southeast  of  this  tract, 
with  the  same  boundaries. 

On  October  7th,  1685,  Sarah  Fuller  sold  John  Barnes  one  hundred  acres 
which  joined  his  land. 

On  May  10th,  1692,  Wm.  Dillwyn,  and  Sarah  his  wife,  late  Fuller,  con- 
veyed the  balance  of  the  600  acres  to  John  Barnes. 

John  Barnes  conveyed  120  acres  from  the  southeast  corner  of  his  place, 
together  with  an  annuity  of  8  pounds  on  his  farm  of  437  acres,  to  the  Abing- 
ton Friends'  Meeting  for  school  purposes ;  Samuel  Cart  and  others  were  the 
trustees  to  whom  this  property  was  conveyed. 

The  annuity  was  afterward  compounded  by  John  Barnes  with  the  trus- 
tees for  a  stipulated  legacy  of  one  hundred  pounds  to  be  received  at  the  death 
of  Mr.  Barnes.  Wm.  Jenkins,  on  purchasing  the  farm  of  John  Barnes,  gave  a 
mortgage  for  this  hundred  pounds  to  the  trustees.     This  was  satisfied  in  1716. 

Mr.  Jenkins  bought,  June  17th,  1698. 

On  February  29th,  1712,  Wm.  Jenkins  by  will,  devised  his  farm  to  his 
wife  during  life,  the  son  Stephen,  to  succeed  to  the  property  after  her  death. 

This  Jenkins  property  included  what  is  now  a  part  of  the  borough  of 
Jenkintown. 

The  chief  Burgess  is  now  George  Tomlinson. 

JENKINTOWN  LYCEUM. 

Dr.  Charles  Shoemaker,  Spencer  Shoemaker,  teacher  of  the  Friends' 
School  at  Abington  Meeting  House,  and  Edwin  Schofield,  who  owned  the 
Newbold  property,  were  the  originators  of  this  Lyceum. 

The  first  meetings  were  at  Dr.  Shoemaker's  house,  now  occupied  by  Dr. 
Paxson.  They  met  for  some  time  in  the  second  story  of  the  back  building, 
and  afterward  in  a  house  which  stood  where  Dr.  Randle's  house  is  now 
located.  This  meeting  place  was  a  large,  square  room  which  covered  the 
whole  second  story,  except  a  small  portion  which  was  divided  from  the  main 
part  for  the  use  of  the  Abington  Library. 

It  was  proposed  to  build  a  hall  as  a  permanent  place  for  the  Society  and 
the  Library,  to  be  called  the  Jenkintown  Lyceum  Hall. 

The  ground  needed,  next  to  where  the  Presbyterian  Church  now  stands, 
was  given  by  Mrs.  Ross,  widow  of  Judge  John  Ross,  and  her  son  William. 

The  stone  building  was  built  principally  by  Mrs.  Judge  Ross. 

The  statement  concerning  the  land  is  quoted  in  the  printed  pamphlet 
"  Quarter  Centennial  Sketch  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  "  page  3,  from  a  history  of 
Jenkintown,  in  the  Jenkintown  Outlook  of  1886,  by  H.  F.  Stewart. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  171 

It  was  used  by  the  Society  for  several  years,  and  also  by  all  the  various 
churches  of  the  village,  which  began  their  work  there. 

Sunday  Schools  were  also  held  in  it. 

It  has  lately  been  used  by  the  Colored  Baptists. 

The  charter  of  the  Society  still  holds  and  the  property  is  in  their  hands, 
but  they  do  not  keep  up  the  meetings. 

The  Cabinet  of  Natural  Science  was  a  Society  which  was  formed,  and 
occupied  the  room  which  was  vacated  by  the  Lyceum.  They  existed  for  two 
years. 

THE  JENKINTOWN  PUBLIC  SCHOOL. 

The  public  school  system  was  accepted  by  Abington  Township  by  a  vote, 
a  little  before  1840. 

Wm.  Gillingham  and  Thomas  Rowland  were  elected  Directors  in  Chelten- 
ham, and  by  Cheltenham  Township  in  the  Spring  of  1838. 

The  children  went  for  the  most  part  to  the  Friends'  School  at  Abington 
Meeting,  until  the  public  school  opened. 

However  some  private  schools  were  held  in  the  village. 

Mrs.  Mary  Pusey,  a  widow  lady,  had  a  Girls'  Boarding  and  Day  School 
in  the  frame  house  next  above  Dr.  Paxson's.  Her  husband  had  been  the 
teacher  of  the  Friends'  School  at  Abington  Meeting. 

Previous  to  this,  Mrs.  Evans,  another  widow  lady,  kept  a  private  school 
for  boys  and  girls  in  a  house  which  stood  on  the  site  of  the  Episcopal  rectory, 
belonging  to  the  Church  of  Our  Saviour.  This  was  her  residence.  It  was  an 
old  two  story  building. 

There  were  two  old  stone  houses  just  above  this  one,  on  the  same  side, 
which  were  owned  by  Wm.  Cottman. 

There  was  another  old  two-story  stone  house  with  a  cellar-kitchen,  and  a 
porch  which  had  an  entrance  to  the  basement  underneath  it.  The  well  also 
was  under  the  porch. 

The  lower  side  of  the  house  was  a  dead  wall,  and  one  who  knew  the  place 
as  a  boy,  says  that  it  was  used  in  playing  hand-ball. 

Aaron  Hite  once  lived  here.  He  was  a  huckster,  and  the  cellar  yielded 
watermelons  and  canteloupes  to  those  who  needed  such  summer  refreshments. 

The  widow  Rees  dwelt  here  for  a  time. 

Jesse  Butterworth  afterward  lived  in  the  house. 

These  houses  all  belonged  to  Wm.  Newbold.  When  the  Newbold  family 
erected  the  church  these  dwellings  were  taken  away. 

John  Slater  kept  a  day  school  in  the  old  stone  house  belonging  to  James 
Plunket  nearly  opposite  the  rectory. 

The  Church  of  Our  Saviour  had  a  parish  school  in  Temperance  Hall, 
opposite  the  Lyceum.  The  Hall  was  a  two-story  building,  with  a  hall  above 
and  dwelling  below,  belonging  to  the  Sons  of  Temperance.  It  has  dis- 
appeared. 


172  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

The  parish  school  was  also  taught  for  several  years  in  the  parish  school 
building  which  was  built  near  the  church  for  Sunday  and  parish  schools. 

Miss  Bell  who  was  a  southern  lady,  and  Miss  Gibbons  and  Miss  Ringwalt 
are  remembered  as  teachers. 

Miss  Henrietta  Madeira  had  a  private  school  in  her  house  on  West 
Avenue,  opposite  the  Methodist  Church  now  occupied  by  Charles  Mather,  Jr. 

A  day  school  for  small  children  has  been  conducted  at  the  Baptist 
Church  by  Miss  Davis. 

The  first  public  school  of  the  village  was  built  in  West  Avenue,  where 
the  Methodist  Church  stands.  The  church  is  partly  on  the  foundation  of  this 
building  which  was  torn  down  to  make  way  for  the  church. 

About  1856  a  new  lot  was  purchased,  and  a  larger  building  erected  on 
the  opposite  side  of  West  Avenue.  Both  the  buildings  named  were  constructed 
of  stone. 

The  present  building  has  seven  rooms,  including  the  cloak  rooms.  There 
are  four  departments. 

The  principal  is  Mr.  D.  G.  Hartney. 

Miss  Wilkins,  Miss  Mcintosh,  Miss  Sullivan  and  Miss  Ebert  were  teachers 
in  1887. 

Among  the  early  directors  were  Dr.  Beattie  and  John  C.  Harvey. 

Wm.  Kennedy,  Charles  Palmer,  Messrs.  Roberts,  Bruner,  and  Enoch 
Rosenberger  were  among  the  principals,  as  well  as  William  Walton.  Mr. 
Walton  taught  at  Jarrettown  in  the  year  named. 

I  am  indebted  to  Thomas  S.  Nash  for  information  in  this  matter. 

The  present  school  house  was  built  in  1866. 

The  trustees  in  1887  were  J.  Wesley  Reeder,  President;  Miss  Mary  L. 
Thompson,  Secretary ;  Edward  Everett,  Treasurer ;  Edward  Reeder,  John  H. 
Peck  and  George  W.  McCool. 

The  Lime  Kiln  Road  and  Washington  Lane  are  ancient  highways. 

The  Huntingdon  Valley  Road  which  leaves  the  York  Road  at  the  ten 
mile  stone,  just  above  the  village,  used  to  be  called  the  New'  Road,  and  is 
sometimes  called  the  Valley  Road.  Roads  in  country  sections  are  so  seldom 
made  that  it  is  little  wonder  that  this  should  be  called  new,  as  Harper's  Mag- 
azine still  keeps  the  word  "  New  "  on  its  title. 

Greenwood  Avenue  leading  from  the  village  of  Jenkintown  to  the  station, 
and  on  to  Lime  Kiln  Pike  was  one  of  the  first  new  avenues  opened.  The 
late  Wm.  Kent,  of  James,  Kent,  Santee  &  Co.,  had  a  country  place  which  he 
called  Beechwood,  and  which  has  been  enlarged  by  R.  J.  Dobbins  into  the 
Hotel  Beechwood. 

Mr.  Kent  opened  Cedar  and  Maple  Streets  on  his  property. 

John  Clayton  owned  the  property  through  which  these  streets  ran  before 
Mr.  Kent  obtained  it.  He  sold  to  Dr.  Van  Dyke.  Mr.  Burling  afterward 
owned  it,  except  a  portion  which  belonged  to  Spencer  Shoemaker. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  173 

John  Clayton  owned  most  of  the  land  in  the  northern  and  western  portion 
of  the  village.  He  was  a  cabinet  maker.  He  died  at  the  house  of  his  son-in- 
law,  Amos  Jones,  near  Milltown  about  50  or  60  years  ago. 

Schofield  Lane  runs  by  the  side  of  the  Episcopal  Church  of  Our  Saviour 
and  to  Mr.  Newbold's  entrance. 

This  was  opened  in  the  days  of  the  ownership  of  the  Jenkins  family. 

In  1824  there  were  no  houses  in  Jenkintown,  but  those  on  the  York  Road, 
if  we  except  the  house  on  the  corner  of  West  Street  and  Walnut  Lane,  belong- 
ing to  the  Stewart  estate. 

This  old  stone  house  was  built  by  John  Cavender,  who  was  once  a  school 
teacher  here.  He  became  a  scrivener  in  Philadelphia.  He  taught  at  his  own 
house,  and  also  at  a  house  which  stood  above  the  bank,  partly  in  Dr.  Paxson's 
present  lane,  and  partly  on  the  bank  property. 

This  was  a  frame  house,  and  was  moved  to  where  Dr.  Peters'  resides.  Mr. 
Chas.  Wilson  demolished  it  when  he  erected  his  present  fine  dwelling. 

The  house  owned  by  John  Nice,  the  undertaker  and  cabinet  maker  63 
years  ago,  was  owned  by  a  blacksmith  named  Charles  Holt. 

Mr.  Nice  formerly  lived  in  the  building  where  his  shop  now  is.  He  has 
a  twin  brother  in  Germantown  on  Main  Street.  He  has  retired  from  business, 
and  his  sons  Thomas  and  George  have  succeeded  him. 

Mr.  Gentry's  store  is  next  above  Mr.  Nice's  house.  The  upper  part  was 
a  hotel,  called  the  Green  Tree,  and  kept  by  Jacob  Britton,  over  65  years  ago. 
Afterward  Daniel  Walton  kept  it.  Jacob  Buck  also  conducted  the  place,  and 
was  followed  by  his  son  Samuel.  A  Mr.  Hughes  had  it  for  a  time.  Willett 
Walton  was  also  the  host  here. 

About  45  years  ago  Wm.  Cottman  bought  it,  and  it  was  turned  into  a 
dwelling,  and  Mr.  Cottman  lived  here  for  a  time,  and  died  here. 

There  used  to  be  an  alley  on  the  lower  side  between  the  tenant  house  and 
the  tavern  being  arched  over,  and  having  a  large  room  over  it.  Here  sleigh- 
ing parties  used  to  have  their  dances. 

There  was  another  alleyway  between  the  tavern  and  Mr.  Nice's  house, 
with  an  arch  of  wood  above  it. 

When  a  store  was  opened  here  Wm.  Aubon  and  Nathan  Michener  were 
the  store-keepers.     The  store  was  in  the  lower  part  of  the  main  building. 

After  Mrs.  Cottman's  death  the  place  again  became  a  store,  and  a  frame 
store  building  was  added  on  the  lower  side.  The  former  tenant  house  and 
wooden  archway  were  removed.  This  improvement  was  made  by  Mr.  Lusher, 
who  then  owned  the  property. 

Mr.  Chalfont  carried  on  business  here,  then  came  Mr.  Gentry,  who  has 
had  tlie  place  for  several  years. 

An  express  robbery  took  place  years  ago  in  a  southern  State.  The  robber 
was  an  agent. 

A  relative  of  his  lived  in  the  house  which  stood  where  Mr.  Gentry's  store 
is  located. 


174  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

The  robber  buried  the  money  in  the  cellar,  and  Pinkerton's  detectives 
spent  weeks  in  searching  for  it,  and  at  last  succeeded  in  finding  it. 

This  occurred  about  thirty-five  years  ago. 

Above  Mr.  Gentry's  are  three  houses  belonging  to  Frank  Cottman,  that  is 
the  barber  shop  with  the  hall  above  it,  where  the  Building  Association  meets, 
and  the  tavern,  and  the  dwelling  above  which  is  a  double  house ;  the  lower 
part  has  long  been  occupied  by  Mrs.  Sarah  Thompson,  and  the  upper  one  by 
Miss  Heyburger. 

The  next  building  is  the  drug  store  of  Dr.  Gray,  owned  by  John  Lambert. 
•    This  is  a  wooden  building. 

Mr.  Lambert  also  owns  the  residence  of  Dr.  Cross  which  comes  next. 

Mrs.  Judge  Ross  owned  this  ground.  Her  son  William  afterward  became 
possessor  of  it,  and  sold  to  Rees  Griffith,  who  built  the  house.  He  sold  to  Mr. 
Harvey,  and  it  afterwards  passed  into  Mr.  Lambert's  hands. 

Mr.  David  Phillips,  who  has  resided  in  the  village  longer  than  any  other 
present  inhabitant,  has  kindly  given  me  information  in  the  above  matters. 
He  came  here  from  Abington  village  when  a  mere  child,  and  lived  in  one  of 
the  houses  on  the  Episcopal  Church  property.  He  now  lives  on  Leedom 
Street,  and  was  influential  with  Conrad  Dern  in  opening  this  street,  both 
having  had  property  on  it. 

Jervis  Elliott  occupies  the  property  between  the  Episcopal  rectory  and 
the  Presbyterian  Church. 

This  is  a  part  of  the  Barnes  tract,  which  afterwards  belonged  to  the 
Jenkins  family,  and  next  to  Samuel  Schofield.  There  have  been  several 
other  owners.     It  has  been  in  the  Elliott  family  over  33  years. 

Mrs.  Judge  Ross  was  born  here,  she  being  one  of  the  Jenkins  family. 

The  house  was  built  by  one  of  the  Jenkins  family,  before  the  turnpike 
was  made. 

The  wall  which  juts  into  the  street  and  gives  a  pretty  and  striking  appear- 
ance to  the  front  has  been  allowed  to  remain  because  it  was  there  before  the 
widening  of  the  street. 

This  is  one  of  the  oldest  houses  in  the  village. 

John  Barnes,  who  bought  the  tract  of  Wm.  Penn,  of  which  this  is  a  small 
portion,  was  on  the  first  petit  jury  in  Philadelphia,  as  recorded  in  Penn's 
Journal. 

Penn  was  once  at  Abington  Monthly  Meeting,  and  dined  at  a  house 
which  stood  on  the  property  which  was  on  the  estate  of  the  late  J.  Francis 
Fisher,  then  owned  by  a  Friend  named  John  Phipps. 

There  are  some  neat  cottages  on  the  Meeting  House  Road.  Thomas  Nice, 
and  Wm.  J.  Stringer  and  Thomas  Heger  reside  here. 

West  Avenue  was  originally  a  part  of  the  Lime  Kiln  Road.  It  is  the  finest 
Avenue  for  residences  in  the  village.  The  cutting -of  the  street  has  elevated 
the  banks  so  as  to  form  a  sort  of  terrace  all  along  it. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  175 

On  the  south  side  lie  the  Methodist  and  Roman  Catholic  Churches.  The 
last  named  building  has  a  neat  parsonage  adjoining  it.  Across  Pleasant 
Street,  Squire  Charles  Mather,  the  Wilson  family,  A.  Jackson  Smith,  and  Mr. 
Kohl,  have  neat  and  pretty  cottages.     Below  lies  the  Stewart  estate. 

Charles  Harper  has  erected  a  fine,  large  and  tasteful  modern  house  on 
the  corner  of  Cedar  Street.  It  is  constructed  of  blue  stone,  and  has  a  nice 
yard. 

HILL  SIDE  AVENUE 

Runs  out  of  the  lower  part  of  West  Avenue  toward  the  station. 

There  are  a  number  of  neat,  new  cottages  on  this  avenue. 

On  Walnut  Street,  south  of  Greenwood  Avenue,  are  several  well  built 
cottages. 

Mr.  Edward  Clark,  of  Philadelphia,  owns  and  occupies  the  one  at  the 
corner  of  Walnut  and  Willow  Streets. 

A  number  of  neat  modern  houses  have  been  erected  on  Willow  Street. 
This  is  one  of  the  improving  portions  of  this  growing  town. 

The  great  growth  of  this  borough  has  been  within  the  last  fifteen  years. 
The  Rail  Road  accommodations  are  stimulating  growth.  There  are  many 
daily  trains  to  and  from  the  city. 


GREENWOOD  AVENUE. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Thomas  has  a  large  frame  house,  on  the  south  side,  of  credita- 
ble appearance. 

Greenwood  Avenue  well  deserves  its  name,  for  while  it  is  not  exactly  the 
merry  green  wood  of  Robin  Hood  and  his  band,  or  that  described  in  Walter 
Scott's  poetry  where  the  mavis  and  merle  sing,  and  the  hunter's  horn  rings, 
still  a  row  of  fine  trees  on  both  sides  of  the  lower  part  of  this  highway  gives  it 
a  cheerful  and  refreshing  appearance  in  summer. 

A  wide  plank  walk  runs  from  Walnut  Street  to  the  station.  Above 
Walnut  Street  there  is  a  foot  pavement,  except  where  the  old  blacksmith  shop 
stands,  and  conducts  its  useful  and  picturesque  work.  In  passing  I  observed 
the  circular  fire  on  the  ground  for  heating  a  tire,  near  the  street,  outside  of  the 
shop.  The  board  walk  is  not  as  lively  as  those  at  the  sea  shore,  but  when 
workmen  return  from  labor  in  the  early  evening,  and  when  the  carriages 
hurry  to  the  station,  and  an  occasional  baby  carriage,  with  its  interesting  occu- 
pant, and  accompanying  group  of  children,  and  a  boy  on  his  pony,  or  a  pony 
phaeton  are  in  sight,  the  place  does  not  lack  charms. 

One  of  the  public  buildings  which  deserves  mention  is  Mr.  Fleck's  large 
brick  hall,  which  bears  his  name.  It  stands  opposite  the  side  of  the  Methodist 
Church. 


176  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

The  hills  which  surround  Jenkintown  make  it  an  attractive  place  for 
building,  and  in  coming  years  it  may  be  expected  that  many  fine  residences 
will  arise  upon  them.     The  vicinity  of  the  city  makes  the  land  available. 

One  of  the  most  prominent  sites  which  may  be  seen  from  the  Hotel 
Beechwood,  perched  among  the  trees,  like  an  eagle's  eyrie,  is  the  tower 
mansion  of  the  distinguished  artist,  Russell  Smith,  near  Weldon. 

Wyncote  is  a  new  village  growing  up  at  Jenkintown  Station. 

This  lies  on  the  former  property  of  the  late  Wm.  C.  Kent,  of  the  firm  of 
James,  Kent,  Santee  &  Co.,  of  Philadelphia. 

Messrs.  Willis  P.  Hazard,  J.  M.  Stoddart  and  Mr.  Loag  purchased  a  tract 
together,  about  seven  years  ago. 

The  Hon.  I.  Newton  Evans  and  Samuel  J.  Garner  built  the  first  two 
houses. 

Mr.  Gilbert  Parker  has  erected  a  remarkably  fine  and  well  planned  frame 
house  here ;  John  Harlow,  of  Boston,  was  the  architect  and  builder.  He 
brought  the  mechanics  from  Boston. 

In  the  spring  of  1887  a  post  office  was  established  in  Charles  Harper's 
store  in  this  village. 

A.  E.  Canfield,  of  Williamsport,  has  erected  a  mansion  on  the  new 
improvement. 

Several  other  handsome  cottages,  owned  by  various  persons  have  been 
built  on  this  land,  and  drew  my  attention. 

This  tract  lies  on  the  northwest  side  of  the  Lime  Kiln  Road. 

On  the  opposite  side,  M.  L.  Kohler  purchased  ten  acres  of  Henry  Lippin- 
cott.  He  has  built  a  house  on  it,  and  several  others  were  in  course  of  con- 
struction when  I  was  at  Hotel  Beechwood.  His  office  is  in  the  tasteful  one 
story  parti-colored,  shingled  building  at  the  station. 

The  Jenkintown  station  is  a  neat  building  of  stone. 

A  breeze  along  the  valley  enters  the  window,  and  refreshes  the  waiting 
traveller. 

Some  rustic  cedar  posts  showing  the  remains  of  the  limbs,  hold  a  wire 
fence  which  guards  a  little  stream. 

Some  trees  in  the  circle  of  the  drive  have  been  enclosed  with  posts,  and  a 
large  iron  rod  connects  them  to  preserve  the  usefulness  of  these  grateful 
shades. 

This  is  one  of  the  most  important  and  busy  stations  on  the  North  Penn 
Rail  Road. 


METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  AT  JENKINTOWN. 

Mr.  J.  W.  Ridpath,  long  the  faithful  Sunday  School  Superintendent  has 
kindly  placed  in  my  hands  a  manuscript  written  by  him,  which  was  read  on 
the  20th  anniversary  of  this  parish,  on  September  25th,  A.  D.  1887. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  '  177 

I  will  give  its  main  points.  In  1866  Rev.  S.  A.  Heilner  had  occasional 
evening  services  in  the  Lyceum  Building. 

In  that  year  the  public  school  house  and  lot  were  bought  "  at  the  urgent 
solicitation  of  Brothers  Howard  Krewson  and  Samuel  McBride,  "  in  the  name 
of  J.  W.  Ridpath,  for  $1,260. 

In  the  summer  of  1867  the  building  was  altered.  It  was  dedicated  Sep- 
tember 29th,  1867,  "  to  the  worship  of  God.  "  Dr.  Pattison  preached  the  morn- 
ing sermon  and  dedicated  the  building.  Rev.  J.  W.  Jackson  preached  in  the 
afternoon,  and  Rev.  A.  Manship  conducted  the  services  at  night. 

In  1867  Brother  John  Unruh,  of  the  Milestown  Church,  local  preacher, 
supplemented  generally  Mr.  Heilner's  services,  Mr.  Heilner  officiating  at 
Jenkintown  twice  a  month.  Mr.  Heilner  was  the  acceptable  first  pastor,  and 
much  loved  by  the  people.  "  Bro.  Unruh  was  an  earnest  Christian,  a  Metho- 
dist of  the  olden  time,  with  a  powerful  voice.  " 

In  1868,  Rev.  F.  Church,  and  Brother  Unruh  and  other  local  preachers 
served  the  parish.  In  1869  Rev.  C.  W.  Bickley,  with  Geo.  Bickley,  Wm. 
Bunch,  W.  J.  Ingraham,  and  other  local  preachers  continued  the  work. 

In  1870  the  connection  with  Milestown  terminated.  The  Elder,  Dr. 
Castle,  sent  a  .local  preacher,  A.  I.  Collom.  He  was  ill  for  a  time  and  Mr. 
Shepherd  Russell,  and  other  Philadelphia  local  preachers  gave  assistance.  In 
1871  Mr.  Collom  continued  his  work,  and  is  considered  the  first  pastor  of 
the  church  "  as  a  separate  station.  "    "  He  was  an  efficient  worker.  " 

"  1872  Rev.  J.  A.  Cooper,  a  good  man  of  several  years  experience.  " 

1873  Rev.  Jas.  Blackledge,  under  Rev.  Richard  Turner,  of  Harmersville. 
He  "  did  the  church  much  good.  " 

"  1875  Rev.  W.  W.  Wisegarver  a  good  hearted  hard  worker. "  "  He  suc- 
ceeded in  nearly  clearing  the  church  of  debt.  " 

"  1876,  Rev.  M.  Barnhill  a  genial,  faithful  worker  who  did  much  good.  " 
He  preached  also  at  Jarrettown  and  Harmer's  Hill.  He  was  also  in  charge  in 
1877. 

1878,  Rev.  E.  C.  Yerkes  had  three  charges.   "  He  was  good  and  faithful.  " 

In  1879,  Elder  Rev.  Wm.  Swindells  introduced  Rev.  Thos.  K.  Peterson 
to  this  parish,  and  he  took  charge,  and  had  the  old  building  taken  down,  and 
the  present  neat  and  comfortable  church  erected.  The  corner-stone  was  laid 
on  October  1st.,  A.  D.  1879,  by  the  Presiding  Elder,  Rev.  Wm.  Swindells. 
The  church  was  dedicated  on  December  28th,  A.  D.  1879,  by  Rev.  A.  J. 
Kynett,  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Church  Extension.  Such  haste  in  erecting 
a  stone  building  showed  that  it  was  as  when  Nehemiah  and  his  helpers  built 
the  wall  of  Jerusalem :  "  the  people  had  a  mind  to  work,  "  Nehemiah  4.  6.  The 
clergyman  must  have  been  a  good  leader,  and  an  earnest  one. 

"  1880,  Bro.  Peterson  was  very  faithful  and  efficient.     The  writer  fully 
believes  this  church  owes  its  present  healthy  condition  to  his  disinterested,, 
untiring  efforts.     At  one  time  the  official  members  agreed  to  call  the  building 
'  Peterson  Chapel, '  but  have  never  done  so.  " 
12 


178  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

1881,  Rev.  Robert  McKay,  an  eloquent  preacher,  who  drew  "  good  con- 
gregations "  was  in  charge.     He  lived  in  Philadelphia. 

"  1882,  Rev.  Wm.  H.  Pickop,  remaining  6  months.  A  clear  thinker  and 
forcible  speaker,  who  always  believed  in  calling  things  by  their  right  names. " 

1882-3,  G.  Bickley  Burns  succeeded  him.  He  "  was  full  of  eloquence, 
and  enthusiasm,  nor  did  his  faith  fail,  and  he  pleased  the  people.  " 

"  1884,  Rev.  G.  Bickley  Burns  again  returned.  His  ardor  unabated  and 
his  efficiency  constantly  increasing.  The  church  may  always  feel  proud  of 
his  record  at  Jenkintown.  " 

1885-87,  Rev.  G.  H.  Lorah  became  pastor.  Though  in  appearance  "  very 
youthful "  he  spoke  as  "  one  of  riper  years.  "  His  discourses  commanded  a 
hearing,  and  he  was  an  eloquent  preacher. 

Mrs.  Ross  was  an  early  helper  of  this  work. 

Rev.  Messrs.  A.  D.  Shields,  Virgil  E.  Rorer  and  J.  H.  Hackenberg  have 
been  the  succeeding  pastors.  Harry  Williams  is  now  Sunday  School  Super- 
intendent. The  sextons  worked  gratuitously  in  the  old  church,  and  Brother 
Samuel  McBride  is  mentioned  with  honor  in  this  connection.  In  1886  the 
following  Trustees  were  chosen :  Harry  Williams,  Dr.  A.  C.  Heritage,  J.  W. 
Ridpath,  Harry  Lenhart,  Richard  Flower,  Joseph  G.  Frank,  and  Joseph  Buck- 
man. 

In  A.  D.  1892  the  Ladies'  Aid  Society  issued  a  pamphlet  containing  a 
"  Quarterly  Centennial  Sketch  of  the  Church  "  where  interesting  details  may  be 
found.     I  heartily  wish  every  parish  had  a  printed  record. 

Dr.  Ellwood  Peters  occupies  a  fine  new  stone  house  belonging  to  Chas.  F. 
Wilson.     This  is  one  of  the  most  costly  and  elegant  residences  in  the  village. 

An  old  one  story  stone  house  that  stood  here  was  torn  down  to  make  way 
for  the  modern  dwelling. 

The  building  which  is  used  as  a  store  and  post  office  by  Weak  &  Brother 
was  built  about  1837.  The  lot  was  bought  of  Benjamin  W.  Fleck  by  Mr.  John 
Weak,  who  erected  this  stone  building.  He  was  the  father  of  Charles,  Ellwood 
and  Albert  Weak,  who  now  own  the  property. 

Crossing  Greenwood  Avenue  we  reach  a  stone,  plastered  building  belong- 
ing to  Benjamin  W.  Fleck,  two  stories  in  height. 

This  was  built  by  William  Webster  before  1800.  The  upper  end  was  one 
story  in  height,  and  was  used  for  various  business  purposes.  Mr.  Fleck  raised 
this  and  the  kitchen  to  two  stories. 

Mr.  Fleck  bought  of  Joseph  Haycock,  who  had  purchased  of  Benjamin 
Webster,  who  was  a  descendant  of  William  Webster. 

The  Jenkintown  Hotel  is  next  in  order. 

David  Kline  had  a  store  on  this  point,  which  is  the  lower  corner  of  West 
and  York  Avenues.  The  property  belonged  to  a  lady  who  did  not  reside  in 
the  village. 

Jacob  Peters,  who  used  to  run  a  stage  line  from  Philadelphia  to  Easton, 
bought  the  property,  and  converted  it  into  a  hotel,  and  made  it  a  stopping 
place  for  his  stages. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  179 

Mark  H.  Evans  afterward  bought  it,  and  conducted  it.  Joseph  Thornton 
was  a  later  owner, 

Wm.  Van  Dyke  was  the  owner  previous  to  the  purchase  by  James  B.  and 
Wesley  Reeder  Smith.  James  B,  Smith  has  bought  his  brother's  interest,  and 
is  sole  owner. 

On  the  upper  side  of  West  Avenue  is  Charles  Harper's  store. 

Some  50  or  60  years  ago  Wm.  Berrill  owned  this  property,  and  kept  store 
here.  He  sold  to  David  J.  Bent,  who  continued  the  business  a  year  or  two, 
and  then  sold  to  Thomas  Hallowell. 

It  afterward  came  into  the  possession  of  Chas.  Harper  who  has  sold  to  C. 
H.  Millar  the  present  owner. 

Next  above  Dr.  Paxson's  house  is  an  old  stone  house  belonging  to  Mrs. 
Mary  Pusey.     Mrs.  Danenhower,  widow  of  John  Danenhower  occupies  it. 

This  is  one  of  the  oldest  houses  in  the  village,  and  its  situation  on  a  high 
bank  gives  it  a  pretty  look.     There  is  a  frame  addition  at  the  upper  end. 

Mr.  L.  Troelsch's  bakery  is  next  in  order. 

This  stone  house  formerly  belonged  to  Ardemus  Stewart,  whose  family 
now  reside  in  Abington  village. 

In  after  years  Colonel  Childs  owned  it.  Mrs.  Zane  purchased  it,  and 
Andrew  Jackson  Smith,  her  son-in-law,  became  owner  of  the  property,  and 
sold  to  the  present  occupant.  Mrs.  Zane  altered  the  building  for  bakery 
purposes. 

An  old  stone  building,  one  story  in  height,  which  was  probably  one  of  the 
pioneers  of  the  town,  stood  on  the  site  of  the  Masonic  Hall,  and  forms  a  part 
of  its  foundation. 

We  now  pass  down  York  Avenue  and  take  account  of  the  dwellings  on 
the  east  side.  The  cozy  old  fashioned  house  of  Charles  F.  Wilson  was  owned 
by  John  Clayton  about  60  years  ago. 

John  S.  Leibert  purchased  it  of  Mr.  Clayton,  and  enlarged  and  im- 
proved it. 

He  sold  it  to  Dr.  George  Harris,  a  practising  physician,  who,  on  removing 
to  Maryland  conveyed  it  to  Joseph  L.  and  Charles  F.  Wilson. 

Joseph  L.  Wilson  died  not  long  since.  Charles  F.  Wilson  now  occupies 
the  house,  with  his  two  sisters. 

The  Wilsons  built  the  store  and  conducted  it,  but  they  have  now  rented 
it  to  Joseph  F.  and  Wm.  Dil worth. 

Mrs.  Anna  Griscom  is  the  present  post-mistress. 

Dr.  Cross  resides  next  below  the  Episcopal  Church,  where  Dr.  Samuel  D. 
Harvey  lived.     Dr.  Harvey  practised  here  many  years. 

Dr.  Coltman  is  now  a  Presbyterian  Minister  at  Flagstaff,  Arizona. 

George  Bates  will  be  remembered  as  a  butcher  who  kept  the  finest  meat. 
He  lived  on  the  Old  York  Road,  south  of  Jenkintown,  near  the  old  Brock 
place.  He  was  a  striking  character,  and  for  fifty  years,  the  butcher  of  the 
neighborhood.  He  held  outdoor  meetings  and  preached  on  Sundays.  He 
was  a  useful  man,  and  well-known  in  the  community. 


180  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

The  subjoined  article  is  from  the  Philadelphia  Ledger  of  October  28th, 
1890, 

JENKINTOWN  AND  NEAR-BY. 

"  The  suburban  village  of  Wyncote  is  located  immediately  west  of  Jenkin- 
town  Station,  on  the  Bound  Brook  Rail  Road,  It  contains  about  60  of  the 
neatest  and  most  substantial  dwelling  houses,  all  of  which  have  been  built 
within  the  past  five  years.  As  yet  there  is  but  one  store  in  the  village,  and  in 
that  is  located  the  post-office,  called  "  Wyncote,  "  Building  operations  in  this 
new  town  are  quite  numerous  at  this  time. 

Plans  are  out  for  extensive  alterations  and  additions  to  Jenkintown 
Station,  The  present  structure,  which  was  built  years  ago  by  the  North 
Pennsylvania  Rail  Road  Company,  is  entirely  too  small  to  accommodate  the 
traffic  that  has  recently  been  drawn  to  the  Reading  Road.  The  roof  of  the 
old  building  will  be  raised  and  extended  twenty  five  feet  each  way  so  as  to 
afford  shelter  for  passengers.  The  ticket  office  will  be  enlarged  and  complete 
toilet  rooms  will  be  built  in  the  rear  of  the  present  building  connecting  with 
the  two  waiting  rooms.  They  will  be  neatly  finished  in  cherry  and  ash.  A 
building,  containing  a  baggage  and  express  department  under  one  roof,  will 
be  erected  on  the  east  side  of  the  tracks,  where  the  covered  shelter  now  stands. 
The  entire  improvements  contemplated  will  involve  the  expenditure  of  about 
$10,000.     It  will  be  one  of  the  most  complete  stations  on  the  road. 

Wesley  Pullman,  expert  in  ores,  of  Philadelphia,  is  preparing  to  make 
extensive  alterations  to  his  residence,  near  Wyncote. 

A.  D.  Burk  and  T.  J.  Delhenty,  builders,  are  each  building  fine  stone 
and  frame  residences  on  Greenwood  Avenue,  at  a  cost  of  about  $4000  each, 

William  Craft  has  commenced  the  preliminaries  on  a  stone  mansion  on 
Curacoa  Avenue,  to  cost  about  $4,500, 

Mrs.  Magee,  of  Wayne,  Pa.,  has  just  moved  into  her  beautiful  new  dwell- 
ing on  Woodland  Avenue.  It  is  built  of  stone  and  frame,  but  is  not  yet  com- 
pleted. 

Gilbert  Parker  is  building  himself  a  $7000  house  on  Woodland  Avenue. 

Lewis  Leidy  of  the  Philadelphia  Mint,  is  at  work  on  a  $6,500  house  on 
the  corner  of  Helian  and  Curacoa  Avenues. 

Mr.  Berger  of  the  firm  of  Berger  Bros.,  merchants  in  tinners'  supplies, 
Arch  Street,  Philadelphia,  has  purchased  three  acres  of  Henry  Lippincott  on 
Helian  Avenue,  and  is  planning  a  $15,000  house  and  outbuildings. 

Henry  Anderson  of  the  Quaker  City  Guide,  is  building  a  dwelling  to  cost 
about  $5000. 

M.  L.  Kohler,  real  estate  broker,  who  has  built  numerous  dwellings  in  the 
vicinity,  is  putting  up  a  $4000  house  on  Greenwood  Avenue. 

Wharton  Barker,  whose  handsome  country  seat  is  near-by,  has  completed 
a  very  attractive  house  the  past  summer  at  a  cost  of  $12,000.  It  is  located 
near  the  residence  of  Mr.  Barker. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  181 

Several  other  buildings  are  talked  of  on  the  Shoemaker  property,  recently 
sold  to  Bradley  Redfield.  New  streets  are  being  laid  out  through  this  tract. 
The  Jenkintown  Water  Company  will  extend  its  service  through  this  property 
and  the  streets  will  be  stoned.  All  buildings  on  this  tract  are  to  cost  $5000 
and  upwards. 

The  Haycock  property,  of  about  25  acres  is  selling  off  rapidly  in  building 
lots.  Several  houses  have  been  built  recently,  including  one  by  Angus  S.  Wade, 
the  architect,  of  Philadelphia;  two  by  Mr.  Kerr  and  brother,  another  by  Mr. 
Alman,  and  an  $8000  residence  by  Mr.  Bryan,  of  Philadelphia.  The  build- 
ings on  this  tract  are  of  a  substantial  character,  ranging  in  price  from  $4000  to 
$8000. 

The  Jenkintown  Electric  Light  Company  has  contracted  to  furnish  the 
Wharton  Switch  Works  with  incandescent  electric  lights. 

ALONG  THE  NORTH  PENN. 

Dr.  Stewart  is  erecting  a  costly  residence  for  himself  near  Paul  Brook 
Station,  on  the  Bound  Brook  Rail  Road. 

Mr.  Levick's  new  house  near  Ogontz  Station,  on  the  North  Penn  Rail 
Road,  will  soon  be  completed,  at  a  cost  of  about  $12,000. 

Henry  P.  Coxey,  of  Upper  Merion,  has  purchased  a  portion  of  the  Bodine 
farm,  owned  by  Wm.  H.  Hughes,  containing  20  acres  and  41  perches,  for 
$3,500.     It  is  located  near  Friends'  Corner,  a  mile  below  North  Wales. 

Philip  Wunderle,  the  Philadelphia  confectioner,  who  resides  at  Edge  Hill, 
has  purchased  of  Henry  Knuzel  the  old  Twining  property  on  Camp  Hill,  con- 
taining 19  acres,  for  $4275.  Mr.  Wunderle  thinks  of  improving  it  by  the 
erection  of  new  buildings,  but  his  mind  is  not  yet  settled  on  that  point." 

A  newspaper  gives  the  following  note  of  improvement  in  travel : 

BY  TROLLEY  TO  JENKINTOWN. 

A  charter  was  yesterday  granted  at  Harrisburg  to  the  Philadelphia, 
Cheltenham  and  Jenkintown  Passenger  Railway  Company,  with  a  capital  of 
$60,000.  John  H.  Fow  is  president  and  the  company  will  proceed  immediately 
to  build  an  electric  road  along  the  Old  York  Road  from  Jenkintown  to  its 
intersection  with  Erie  Avenue,  in  this  city.  It  will  then  cut  across  to  Fifteenth 
Street  and  by  an  elevated  structure  run  down  Fifteenth  Street  to  Indiana 
Avenue,  where  connection  will  be  made  with  the  lines  of  the  Traction 
Company. 

The  iGermantown  Telegraph,  August  17th,  1892,  adds  the  following  par- 
ticulars : 

THE  NEW  ELECTRIC  RAILWAY. 

The  plans  of  the  Philadelphia,  Cheltenham  and  Jenkintown  Passenger 
Railway,  the  charter  for  which  has  just  been  granted  at  Harrisburg,  call  for 


182  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

an  electric  railway  from  the  city  along  the  Old  York  Road  to  Jenkintown.  It 
would  be  impossible  to  get  into  the  business  section  of  the  city  with  terminals 
of  its  own,  so  it  was  therefore  determined  to  connect  with  the  Traction  Com- 
pany. At  Erie  Avenue  the  tracks  will  turn  off  the  York  Road,  and  going  to 
Fifteenth  Street,  will  be  carried  down  to  Indiana  Avenue  on  an  elevated 
structure.  At  that  point  connection  will  be  made  with  the  Thirteenth  and 
Fifteenth  Streets  branch  of  the  Traction,  while  also  it  will  be  within  less  than 
two  squares  of  Sixteenth  Street  station  on  the  Reading  and  Germ  an  town 
Junction  on  the  Pennsylvania. 

The  Philadelphia  Press,  August  11th,  adds  more  information  as  follows : 

AN  ELECTRIC  RAIL  ROAD  CHARTER. 

John  H.  Fow  has  obtained  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Commonwealth  a 
charter  for  the  Philadelphia,  Cheltenham  &  Jenkintown  Electric  Railroad. 
The  incorporators  are  John  H.  Fow,  President ;  Frank  L.  Lyle,  Secretary ; 
Jacob  H.  Kline,  of  Bustleton,  Treasurer ;  Henry  Lightwort,  John  J.  McKir- 
nan,  of  Philadelphia,  and  S.  R.  Aiman  and  J.  F.  Cottman,  of  Jenkintown, 
Directors.  The  proposed  road  will  run  from  Jenkintown  through  Chelten- 
ham, Ogontz  and  Ashbourne,  to  Erie  Avenue,  and  then  to  Indiana  Avenue, 
where  it  will  connect  with  the  Pennsylvania  and  Reading  Rail  Roads. 

The  following  is  from  the  Philadelphia  Ledger,  September  27th,  1890. 

LIGHTING  COUNTRY  HOMES. 

"  The  new  plant  erected  by  the  Jenkintown  Electric  Light  Company  was 
set  in  operation  this  week.  The  works  are  located  a  short  distance  north  of 
Jenkintown  Station.  The  building  is  a  large  stone  structure,  fitted  out  in  the 
most  complete  manner  for  the  purpose  intended.  There  are  two  boilers  of 
100  horse  power  each,  while  the  Wetherill  Corliss  engine  has  a  capacity  of 
250  horse  power.  The  fly-wheel  is  18  feet  in  diameter,  and  weighs  14  tons. 
The  dynamo  is  adapted  for  1000  incandescent  lights.  Another  machine,  with 
a  capacity  of  2000  lights,  is  on  the  way  and  will  soon  be  placed  in  position. 
The  plant  is  built  to  run  8000  lights.  The  present  number  on  the  circuit  is 
600,  but  the  number  will  be  largely  increased  in  a  few  weeks.  The  system 
used  is  known  as  the  National  Alternating  System,  manufactured  by  the 
National  Electric  Manufacturing  Company,  of  Eau  Claire,  Wis.,  who  make  a 
specialty  of  the  transformer  system  of  incandescent  electric  lighting.  The 
plant  was  furnished  by  Mr.  C.  M.  Blanchard,  of  Philadelphia,  the  Company's 
eastern  agent. 

The  wires  already  extend  to  Ashbourne,  Ogontz,  Glenside,  Edge  Hill, 
Jenkintown,  Rydall,  Paul  Brook,  Bethayres  and  along  Second  Street  pike. 
The  Company  is  capitalized  at  $40,000.  M.  L.  Kohler  is  President  and  J.  W. 
Ridpath,  Secretary. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  183 

At  present  the  Company  expects  to  use  the  incandescent  light  only,  but 
the  system  is  adapted  for  the  arc  light  as  well  as  the  incandescent.  Most  of 
the  lights  will  be  used  in  dwellings  and  business  places.  The  borough  of 
Jenkintown  is  now  using  them  on  the  streets  of  the  town." 

THE  WHARTON  BARKER  RAIL  ROAD  SWITCH  COMPANY 

In  1882  bought  40  acres  of  land  from  the  North  Penn  Rail  Road  Com- 
pany, formerly  a  part  of  Edward  Mather's  farm  where  the  North  Penn  and 
New  York  Railroads  intersect  above  Jenkintown  Station.  In  1884  a  foundry 
and  other  buildings  were  constructed.  When  Mr.  Buck  wrote  his  history  of 
Abington  Township  in  Beans'  History,  Abraham  Barker  was  the  President  of 
this  Company ;  Wm.  Wharton,  Jr.,  was  Superintendent;  and  Wharton  Barker, 
Treasurer. 

The  Company  makes  a  patent  switch.  About  150  hands  are  employed 
when  the  works  are  in  full  operation. 

The  works  are  on  the  Bound  Brook  Rail  Road,  just  above  the  Jenkintown 
Station,  and  the  junction  of  the  North  Penn  and  Bound  Brook  Rail  Roads. 

They  have  some  houses  for  their  operatives. 

The  works  are  mainly  owned  by  Wharton  and  Abraham  Barker. 

THE  BAEDER  PLACE. 

A  magnificent  drive,  lined  on  both  sides  with  fine  Norway  spruce  trees 
introduces  the  stone  house,  elevated  with  a  basement  story  under  the  piazza. 
Statuary  adorns  the  lawn,  which  rises  to  the  house. 

There  is  a  large  stone  barn  with  the  stump  of  a  famous  old  tree  near  it. 

A  stone  gangway  leads  to  the  barn. 

The  Bound  Brook  Rail  Road  passes  under  a  bridge  on  the  drive  in  the 
long  entrance. 

A  little  stream  of  water  runs  through  the  property.  It  has  been  walled 
with  stone,  and  a  rustic  fence  beautifies  a  bridge  at  the  farm  house  occupied 
by  Mr.  Wakefield. 

Mrs.  Baeder  occupies  the  place  since  Mr.  Baeder's  death.  The  farm 
embraces  265  acres.  It  runs  along  the  Bound  Brook  Rail  Road  and  the  Old 
York  Road. 

A  rear  avenue  leads  to  Limestone  Road  also  lined  with  trees  of  lesser 
size.     There  is  a  pond  and  dam  on  the  farm. 

An  old  farm  house  belonging  to  the  heirs  of  John  Jones,  stood  on  the 
site  of  the  Baeder  mansion.  It  was  torn  down  about  1858  or  1859,  and  a  part 
of  it  is  in  the  foundation  of  the  present  building. 

Mr.  Jones  had  a  grist  and  saw  mill,  and  constructed  two  large  dams  at 
much  expense.  The  buildings  and  dams  are  now  utilized  to  supply  the  place 
with  water. 


184  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Another  farm  house  is  on  this  large  property.  It  belonged  to  Wm.  Allen, 
who  conducted  cabinet-making  at  this  place.  His  buildings  are  used  for 
tenement  houses  for  those  employed  on  the  place.  One  of  his  own  sons  con- 
ducts the  furniture  business  in  Philadelphia. 

On  Beech  wood  Avenue  on  the  corner  of  West  Avenue  is  the  pretty  Queen 
Anne  cottage  of  stone  and  shingle  occupied  by  S.  J.  Baker,  and  owned  by  A. 
H.  Baker,  cashier  of  the  Jenkintown  National  Bank. 

The  cottage  of  brick  and  frame  next  it  is  owned  and  occupied  by  A.  H. 
Baker. 

The  double  house  of  grey  stone  next  below  belongs  to  the  Rev.  Josiah 
Philips.     He  resides  in  the  east  side  and  Mr.  Walker  resides  in  the  west  part. 

The  History  of  Montgomery  County,  edited  by  Col.  Theodore  W.  Bean, 
and  published  by  Everts  and  Peck  in  A.  D.,  1884  is  a  valuable  guide  to  a 
knowledge  of  the  County.  On  page  116  it  speaks  of  Jenkintown  as  a  "  younger 
sister  of  Hatborough. "  Its  borough  charter  was  received  in  1874.  Old 
families  of  the  township  of  Abington,  were  main  movers  in  this  progressive 
action.     The  population  is  given  as  810. 

The  borough,  containing  248  acres,  was  subtracted  from  the  township  of 
Abington.  It  touches  Cheltenham  Township.  The  main  street  is  the  York 
Road.  The  Rail  Road  Station  is  at  some  distance  from  this  Road,  and  is 
eight  and  one-tenth  miles  from  Philadelphia.  The  railway  was  opened  to 
travel  in  1856.  Much  business  is  done  at  this  station,  which  lies  in  beautiful 
scenery  among  hills  and  woods,  with  Tacony  Creek  to  diversify  the  landscape. 
This  section  of  country  is  improving  in  population  and  in  the  value  of  real 
estate ;  Gordon's  Gazetteer  of  1832  gives  the  village  but  30  dwellings,  and  two 
hotels,  and  two  stores.  Lake's  Map  in  1860  increases  the  houses  to  50,  and 
names  the  Episcopal  Church.  There  are  many  churches  in  this  neighbor- 
hood. 

THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  OF  OUR  SAVIOUR. 

This  church  was  the  first  built  in  the  village.  Beautiful  grounds  adorned 
with  trees  surround  the  sacred  edifice.  Rev.  Dr.  E.  Y.  Buchanan,  D.  D.,  a 
brother  of  the  President,  when  rector  of  Trinity  Church,  Oxford,  conducted 
services  in  Lyceum  Hall,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1857.  The  church  was  used 
for  the  worship  of  Almighty  God  in  1858,  Rev.  Ormes  B.  Keith  being  the  first 
rector.  The  rectory  was  erected  in  1861,  and  the  parish  building  was  built  in 
1866.     Both  buildings,  as  well  as  the  church,  are  of  stone. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Keith  resigned  the  rectorship  in  1870,  and  that  year  Rev. 
R.  Francis  Colton  assumed  the  rectorship.  He  died  in  1880,  and  Rev.  Fred- 
erick Palmer  succeeded  him.  He  held  the  rectorship  for  several  years,  and 
having  accepted  a  call  to  Andover,  Massachusetts,  removed  thither,  being 
succeeded  by  Rev.  Roberts  Coles,  who  is  now  in  charge  of  the  parish.  The 
pretty  sandstone  church  is  of  Gothic  architecture,  and  is  "  surmounted  by  a 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  185 

stone  belfry. "  The  property  is  valued  at  $30,000,  and  is  free  from  incum- 
brance. 

The  church  was  erected  as  a  thank-offering  by  the  Newbold  family  after 
escaping  a  railway  accident,  and  contains  the  following  appropriate  text  over 
the  outer  wall  of  the  door :  "  God  is  the  Lord,  by  whom  we  escape  death.  " 
Ps.  68,  21,  Psalter.  Would  that  more  such  thank-offerings  would  arise  to  the 
glory  of  God  and  the  good  of  men. 

William  Warner  was  interested  in  obtaining  the  services  of  Rev.  George 
Hopkins,  of  Germantown,  for  Episcopal  services  in  the  Lyceum.  Mr.  Warner 
was  the  father-in-law  of  Charles  Mather,  Esq.,  and  I  believe  that  he  lived  on 
the  Rasin  place,  formerly  owned  by  Dr.  Van  Dyke. 

The  Lyceum  was  built  in  1839. 

Mrs.  George  Fleck,  of  Jenkintown  exhibited  a  photograph  of  the  Episco- 
pal Church  of  Our  Saviour  at  the  Centennial  of  Montgomery  County,  at  Nor- 
ristown,  in  1884,  as  noted  in  Colonel  Beans'  History  of  Montgomery  County, 
p.  Ixiv. 

The  officers  of  the  Church  of  our  Saviour  are :  W.  W.  Frazier,  Rector's 
Warden ;  C.  B.  Newbold,  Church  Warden ;  John  Cadwalader,  George  H. 
Fisher,  John  Lambert,  John  Pepper,  Charles  Hewett,  A.  Jackson  Smith,  C.  L. 
Comfort,  Albert  Schively,  Frank  P.  Webb,  George  Fleck. 

In  A.  D.  1891  a  Mission  was  organized  at  Wyncote.  A  Sunday  School  is 
conducted  there.  On  Easter  Day,  1892  a  frame  Chapel  was  opened  under  the 
charge  of  Rev.  James  C.  Craven,  Assistant  Minister  of  the  Church  of  Our 
Saviour. 

The  National  Bank  began  operations  in  1875,  in  Masonic  Hall,  and  the 
present  fine  stone  building  was  completed  in  1880,  at  a  cost,  including  safes 
and  furniture,  of  $10,700.  Samuel  W.  Noble  was  President,  and  Andrew  H. 
Baker,  Cashier,  when  Wm.  J.  Buck  wrote  the  article  for  Beans'  History  from 
which  these  facts  about  the  borough  are  culled.  The  present  officers  are  as 
follows :  Directors,  Charles  F.  Wilson,  President ;  Thomas  Williams,  Joseph 
W.  Hallowell,  Jeremiah  B.  Larzelere,  George  D.  Heist,  Joseph  Bosler, 
Hutchinson  Smith,  Joseph  A.  Shoemaker,  Jonathan  J.  Morrison,  George  R. 
Hallowell,  Thomas  Thomson. 

In  1881  a  lady  requested  five  gentlemen  to  act  as  directors  for  a  reading 
room,  offering  to  pay  the  rent  three  years,  and  to  furnish  certain  magazines. 
Others  contributed,  and  the  Reading  Room  was  associated  with  the  Abington 
Library.  Lectures  were  given.  Rev.  Frederick  Palmer  was  President;  A.  H. 
Baker,  Treasurer,  Joseph  W.  Hunter,  Secretary ;  and  J.  W.  Ridpath  and 
Charles  Mather  were  the  other  Directors.  In  1888  the  Reading  Room  was 
closed,  and  in  1889  the  Library  was  moved  to  a  room  over  Dilworth's  store. 

The  following  gentlemen  compose  the  Jenkintown  Water  Company 
incorporated  January  7,  1889 : 


186  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Officers,  M.  L.  Kohler,  President;  Beauveau  Borie,  Vice  President;  C.  F. 
Wilson,  Treasurer;  J.  W.  Ridpath,  Secretary  and  Manager.  Board  of 
Directors,  Chas.  Hewett,  Edwin  Satterthwaite,  Beauveau  Borie,  Joseph  W. 
Hunter,  M.  L.  Kohler. 

The  first  Burgess  of  Jenkintown  was  Marion  Chalfan.  He  has  been  suc- 
ceeded by  Thomas  P.  Manypenny,  John  J.  C.  Harvey,  M.  L.  Kohler  and  J.  H. 
Wheeler  who  held  office  when  Buck  wrote. 

Nicholas  Scull's  map  of  Pennsylvania,  in  1759,  calls  this  place  "  Jenkens* 
Town,"  and  Wm.  Scull's  map,  in  1770,  styles  it  "  Jenkins."  Wm.  Jenkins 
came  from  Wales,  and  it  is  known  that  he  lived  in  this  neighborhood  in 
1697,  and  took  an  interest  in  the  building  of  the  Friends'  Meeting  House. 
In  1698  he  bought  of  John  Barnes  437  acres  of  land  on  the  "  York  Road  about 
half  a  mile  north  of  the  borough  boundary."  His  son  Stephen  lived  here. 
Various  members  of  this  family  are  noticed  in  Buck's  narrative.  In  1779 
Sarah  Jenkins  had  a  public  house  in  Jenkintown  which  gave  name  to  the 
place.  The  inn  may  have  been  kept  by  the  family  some  time  before  1759. 
It  was  "  a  few  yards  below  the  present  Cottman  House."  I  have  seen  it 
named  as  the  widow  Jenkins's  tavern  in  Revolutionary  days. 

In  1684  Sarah  Fuller  and  John  Barnes  took  up  the  land  comprising 
Abington  township.     Joseph  Phipps  was  an  early  settler. 

The  road  from  Fitzwatertown,  through  Weldon  and  Jenkintown  to 
Abington  Meeting  House,  "  was  laid  out  in  1725.  "  Thomas  Fitzwater  was  a 
lime-burner  at  Fitzwatertown.  The  "  road  now  forms  East  and  West 
Avenues." 

"  Washington  Lane  w^as  confirmed  from  Germantown  to  the  Meeting 
House  in  1735,  and  now  forms  the  eastern  boundary  of  the  borough."  The 
region  was  somewhat  settled  to  need  roads,  and  the  Friends'  Meeting  House 
was  the  point  to  which  they  tended.  This  building  was  finished  in  A.  D. 
1700.     It  is  nearly  a  half  mile  from  Jenkintown. 

Perhaps  Stephen  Meshon  once  kept  the  Jenkins  inn.  The  townships  of 
Abington,  Cheltenham  and  Moreland  voted  at  Wm.  McCalla's  public  house, 
where  the  Cottman  House  stands.  Mr.  Wm.  McCalla,  with  John  Brock, 
Joseph  Hillman,  James  Burson,  Charles  Meredith,  Chas.  Stewart,  Alexander 
McCalla  and  Elijah  Tyson  established  a  stage  line  to  run  from  Philadelphia 
to  Bethlehem,  via  Doylestown,  in  1800.  Horses  were  changed  here.  The 
through  fare  was  $2.75.  In  1807  Mr.  McCalla  advertised  the  property  for 
sale,  as  the  "  Barley  Sheaf"  tavern  being  a  large  two-story  building,  and  with 
stabling  for  95  horses.  There  were  3  acres  of  land,  and  the  post-office  was 
kept  there,  and  two  lines  of  stages  made  it  a  stopping-place.  He  rented  the 
stand  from  1807  to  1813,  and  kept  a  store  in  the  village.  He  then  returned 
to  take  charge  of  the  inn  where  he  remained,  "at  least  as  late  as  1818." 
Thos.  Coughlin  the  inn-keeper  here  died  in  1825.  The  hotel  was  then  called 
"The  American  Eagle."  A  brick  dwelling  and  a  blacksmith-shop  w^ere  then 
on  the  property.     The  late  Wm.  Cottman  kept  this  hotel  for  50  years  or  more. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  187 

Chas,  T.  Hallowell,  a  storekeeper,  succeeded  Mr.  McCalla  as  post-master 
Mr.  McCalla  resumed  the  office,  and  Thos.  Coughlin  followed  him,  and  the 
widow  of  Mr.  Coughlin  was  post-mistress.  Mr.  McCalla  belonged  to  Abington 
Presbyterian  Church  and  is  buried  there.  His  wife  died  in  1836,  and  his  own 
death  occurred  in  1850. 

In  1810  a  Horse  Company  was  organized  at  McCalla's  Hotel,  and  its  annual 
meeting  has  been  continued  there.  In  1814  a  public  meeting  was  held  there 
"  to  aid  the  people  of  Philadelphia  in  the  defense  of  their  city,  Joshua  Tyson 
was  Chairman  and  Jesse  Dillon,  Secretary." 

In  1813  Joseph  Thomas  kept  another  inn  in  Jenkintown  called  the 
"  Cross  Keys."  Jacob  Buck  afterward  conducted  it  as  the  "  Green  Tree,"  but 
it  "  was  discontinued  about  1842." 

In  1810  Joseph  Iredell  had  a  house  and  saddle-shop  for  sale.  There 
was  more  horseback -riding  then.  In  1824  some  weavers  came  here  from 
Philadelphia,  where  houses  were  scarce.  A  traveller  noted  that  the  pleasant 
village  was  crowded  with  "  noisy  looms." 

In  addition  to  the  excellent  notes  of  my  friend  Wm.  J.  Buck,  here  synop- 
sized,  Joseph  W.  Hunter,  John  J.  Davis  and  Joseph  A.  Shoemaker  have 
biographies  in  Beans'  History  of  Montgomery  County,  pp.  (738-742). 

GRACE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH,  BY  REV.  R.  A.   GREENE, 

PASTOR. 

This  church  whicli  is  located  on  the  eastern  side  of  Old  York  Pike,  near 
the  northern  end  of  Jenkintown,  was  erected  during  the  spring  and  summer 
of  1871,  for  a  Sunday  School  building,  to  be  under  the  charge  of  the  church 
at  Abington.  The  gift  of  Mr.  John  Wanamaker,  of  Philadelphia,  it  was  made 
by  him  an  offering,  sacred  to  the  memory  of  a  beloved  little  daughter. 

From  the  time  of  its  dedication  in  September,  1872,  religious  work, 
including,  beside  the  Sunday  School,  a  regular  Sunday  evening  service,  was 
maintained  there  with  great  interest. 

On  the  evening  of  May  8th,  1881,  a  committee  of  the  Presbytery  of  Phil- 
adelphia, North,  met  in  this  building,  then  known  as  Grace  Chapel,  to  organize 
it  as  a  Presbyterian  Church.  Forty-one  members,  mostly  from  the  church  at 
Abington,  were  received  into  its  communion.  It  was  resolved  at  that  time 
that  the  name  of  the  church  should  be  Grace  Presbyterian  church  of  Jenkin- 
town. The  first  pastor,  the  Reverend  Henry  A.  McRubbin,  from  Philadelphia, 
a  graduate  from  Princeton  Seminary,  was  ordained  and  installed  on  the  even- 
ing of  June  1st,  1882.  During  his  pastorate,  which  extended  over  three  years 
and  a  half,  the  membership  of  the  church  increased  from  less  than  fifty  to 
over  a  hundred. 

The  second  pastor,  the  Reverend  Richard  A.  Greene,  of  Rhode  Island, 
was  ordained  and  installed  on  the  evening  of  July  15,  1886. 


188  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

ABINGTON  MEETING. 

Will  the  reader  kindly  walk  with  me  a  short  distance  from  Jenkintown, 
and  opposite  the  new  Friends'  Boarding  School  enter  a  little  opening  between 
two  posts  without  a  turnstile  into  the  large  grounds  of  the  Abington  Meeting. 
A  few  loiterers  stretched  on  the  grass  politely  answer  some  questions  and  then 
we  enter  a  "  solemn  stillness, "  which  may  be  felt.  The  majestic  oak  trees 
give  grandeur  to  the  place  but  not  the  cruel  coloring  which  they  cast  over  the 
Druid  worship. 

The  Friends'  Day  School  is  before  us,  and  a  number  of  horse-sheds  dot 
the  ground  showing  a  merciful  care  of  beasts.  The  one  for  the  scholars'  horses 
is  of  stone  and  enclosed  on  all  sides.  There  are  also  posts  in  the  open  ground 
for  summer  use. 

The  large  old  meeting  house  in  its  stern  simplicity  reminds  one  of  Charles 
Lamb's  beautiful  description  of  a  Quaker  meeting  in  "  Elia,  "  and  there  is  that 
in  a  thoughtful  heart  which  responds  to  the  idea  of  spiritual  worship. 

A  long  piazza  protects  the  incoming  worshipers  from  sun  and  rain.  The 
old  shutters  with  their  strap  hinges  and  iron  hooks  and  ancient  latch  and  the 
knob  of  the  door  speak  of  past  days,  while  the  iron  foot-scraper  has  apparently 
long  done  its  humble  duty  for  feet  that  now  rest  in  the  burying  ground 
near-by. 

Old  flag-stones  cover  the  whole  floor  of  the  piazza,  and  I  now  sit  on  a 
stone  step,  with  the  upper  step,  which  is  a  large  flag-stone,  as  a  desk. 

The  very  songs  of  the  birds  seem  to  come  in  subdued  notes. 

The  stone  walls  of  the  meeting  house  have  a  solid  look,  as  if  they 
intend  to  stand  for  many  a  long  year. 

The  building  is  two  stories  in  height. 

A  solid  stone  wall  encircles  the  property. 

A  clear  spring  enclosed  with  large  stones,  on  the  lower  part  of  the  yard 
gives  a  refreshing  draught,  with  the  hand  as  a  cup. 

The  fine  carriages  passing  seem  to  mar  the  scene  and  bring  modern  show 
too  sharply  into  contrast  with  a  spot  where  primitive  simplicity  reigns,  and 
suited  to  "  pensive  meditation. "  The  place  would  have  delighted  Gray,  and 
should  move  the  soul  of  some  modern  poet. 

In  the  graveyard  the  graves  have  but  low  tombstones  to  mark  the 
inmates.  The  simple,  natural  condition  of  the  yard  suits  the  primitive  condi- 
tions of  the  inhabitants. 

The  Mathers,  the  Buckmans  and  the  Hallowells  have  a  number  of  their 
families  in  these  grounds,  as  the  polite  sexton  informs  me. 

Dr.  Chas.  Shoemaker  was  lately  interred  here. 

The  Williams,  and  Thompsons,  and  Paxsons  and  Comleys  are  citizens  of 
this  "  silent  city  of  the  dead. " 

In  returning  we  pass  along  the  lane  of  the  farm  house  belonging  to  the 
Friends'  property  to  Washington  Lane.     The  horse  in  his  stable  and  the  hen 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  189 

within  the  barn  door,  and  the  growing  corn  with  its  pleasant  odor  give  tokens 
of  animal  and  vegetable  life  while  we  have  just  left  the  mystery  of  apparent 
death.  May  God  give  us  that  true  spiritual  life  which  shall  end  in  the  Chris- 
tian hope  of  a  happy  immortality. 

Let  me  beg  those  who  ride  by  Abington  graveyard,  sometimes  to  leave 
their  carriages,  and  walk  over  the  extensive  wooded  grounds  of  this  quiet 
beautiful  spot. 

Benjamin  Lay,  the  honest  and  enthusiastic  hermit  lies  buried  here.  He 
lived  in  a  cave  on  the  late  J.  Francis  Fisher's  place  near  by,  and  the 
hollow  of  the  dug-out  is  yet  visible.  He  and  his  wife  also  lived  in  caves  dug 
into  the  earth  on  Mr.  Davis's  place  at  Milestown.  See  Branchtown  in  this 
volume  for  a  farther  account  of  Lay,  also,  lives  by  Dr.  Rush  and  Thomas  I. 
"Wharton. 

Mr.  Buck,  in  giving  the  history  of  this  well-known  Meeting  of  Friends', 
dates  it  back  to  Thomas  Fairman's  house,  at  Shackamaxon,  before  Penn 
arrived.  It  met  in  A.  D.  1683,  and  three  years  after,  in  Oxford  and  Byberry, 
and  the  Oxford  meeting  house  was  built  in  1683.  In  1687  it  was  agreed  that 
it  should  continue  there,  and  at  Richard  Wall,  Jr.'s  house  in  Cheltenham. 

In  1697  John  Barnee  gave  120  acres  of  land  for  a  meeting  house  and  the 
support  of  a  school.  Wm.  Jenkins  stated  that  Philadelphia  Friends'  assisted 
in  building  a  meeting  house.  Joseph  Phipps  was  appointed  to  work  with  Mr. 
Jenkins  in  securing  aid. 

George  Boone,  who  married  Deborah,  daughter  of  Wm.  Howell,  being  a 
skillful  penman,  in  1718  was  engaged  to  transcribe  various  manuscripts  of  the 
Meeting.  John  Griffith,  in  his  journal,  in  1734,  styles  the  Abington  Meeting, 
to  which  he  belonged,  a  "  large  and  valuable  weighty  body  of  Friends.  "  The 
Meeting  at  first  belonged  to  the  Quarterly  Meeting  which  met  in  Philadelphia, 
but  in  1785  it  was  proposed  to  establish  a  Quarterly  Meeting  at  Abington, 
which  was  to  include  Horsham,  Gwynedd  and  Richland  Monthly  Meetings. 
The  first  Quarterly  Meeting  here  took  place  in  A.  D.  1756.  Galleries  were 
added  at  the  east  end  to  accommodate  this  new  assembly,  which  improvement 
cost  about  three  hundred  pounds.  Eleven  years  after  the  same  cause  impelled 
the  similar  enlargement  of  the  west  end  at  a  cost  of  550  pounds.  Between 
1780  and  1800  the  eminent  ministers  "  James  Thornton,  Peter  Yarnall,  James 
Simpson,  John  Forman,  John  Lloyd,  Ezra  Comfort  and  others  "  were  often 
present  at  the  meetings. 

Robert  Sutcliff  was  an  English  Friend  of  prominence  who  wrote 
"  Travels  in  America, "  and  in  1806  notes  a  visit  with  some  Friends  to 
Abington  Quarterly  Meeting,  which  was  very  large.  The  meeting  house  is  a 
regular  well-built,  stone  building,  and  capable  of  holding  a  great  number  of 
people.  It  is  situated  on  a .  piece  of  ground  containing  several  acres,  and 
which  is  covered  with  a  great  number  of  large  forest  trees.  " 

In  1815  a  Monthly  Meeting  was  constituted  comprising  the  Frankford 
and  Germantown  Meetings,  and  "Abington  became  a  particular  Monthly 


190  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Meeting  to  which  have  since  been  attached  Horsham  and  Upper  Dublin 
Meetings.  " 

The  graveyard  was  much  enlarged  between  1842  and  1844,  and  now 
covers  several  acres.  Some  of  the  first  settlers  lie  in  this  peaceful  spot,  sur- 
rounded by  their  descendants,  who,  in  the  passing  generations  have  been 
gathered  to  their  fathers ;  and  here  the  living  expect  to  join  the  vast  numbers 
who  have  preceded  them.  The  later  stones  have  inscriptions  containing  the 
names  of  members  of  the  following  families :  "  Walton,  Williams,  Palmer, 
Jenkins,  Fletcher,  Jones,  Tyson,  Shoemaker,  Mather,  Lukens  and  Satter- 
thwaite. " 

A  two  story  school  house  of  stone  in  the  yard  has  done  its  work  by  means 
of  the  income  of  the  farm  given  by  John  Barnes  in  1697,  now  comprising  two 
farms. 

I  notice  a  large  stone  building  for  a  boarding  school  called  "  Abington 
Friends'  School,  "  on  the  other  side  of  the  road  erected  after  Mr.  Buck  wrote 
his  sketch.  It  has  been  enlarged  since  it  was  built,  though  its  erection 
occurred  not  long  ago.     Louis  B.  Ambler  is  the  principal. 

The  Monthly  Meeting  held  its  200th  anniversary  at  this  meeting  house  in 
1882,  when  about  500  persons  assembled.  "  Charles  Linton,  clerk  of  the  meet- 
ing, read  a  compilation  from  its  early  records ;  David  Newport  an  original 
poem  entitled  *  William  Penn's  Holy  Experiment, '  followed  by  an  address 
jfrom  Hon.  John  M.  Broomall,  of  Media. 

"ABINGTON  FRIENDS'  BOARDING  AND  DAY  SCHOOL." 

New  building  erected  in  1887  and  in  1889-90. 

THE  FACULTY.— 1892-1893. 


Louis  B.  Ambler,  Principal, 
Mathematics. 

Augustine  W.  Blair,  Jenny  E.  Penckert, 

Science  and  Languages.  German,  French  and  Grammar. 

Jennie  F.  Waddington, 
Botany,  Physiology  and  Common  Branches. 

Clara  M.  Price,  Mary  E.  Broomell, 

Mathematics  and  Spelling.  Literature,  History  and  Reading. 

Hanna  M.  Coggins,  Mary  J.  Murphy, 

Drawing.  Primary  and  Gymnastics. 

Jessie  M.  K.  Gourley, 
Matron. 

Mary  H.  Ambler, 
Assistant  in  Primary. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  191 

DESIGN. 

This  school  has  been  established  by  Friends  for  the  purpose  of  furnishing 
a  thorough  and  guarded  education  at  a  moderate  cost.  It  is  under  the  care 
of  a  committee  of  Abington  Monthly  Meeting,  who  give  it  their  personal 
attention.  The  principal,  teachers,  and  matron  will  spare  no  efforts  to 
advance  the  intellectual  and  moral  welfare  of  the  pupils. 

LOCATION. 

The  school  adjoins  the  grounds  of  Abington  Friends'  Meeting,  ten  miles 
from  Ninth  and  Green  Streets  Station,  Philadelphia,  and  one  mile  from 
Jenkintown  Station.  It  is  easily  reached  by  the  North  Penn  and  Bound 
Brook  division  of  the  Reading  Rail  Road.  (Over  one  hundred  trains  stop 
daily).     Visitors  or  pupils  can  take  hack  at  Jenkintown  Station. 

The  school  is  one-third  of  a  mile  from  Jenkintown  borough,  in  a  thor- 
oughly healthful  location.  The  play-grounds  include  ten  acres,  and  are  in 
part  beautifully  shaded. " 

ALVERTHORPE. 

The  former  residence  of  J.  Francis  Fisher  is  a  fine,  large  stone  mansion, 
pebble-dashed,  opposite  the  Abington  Friends'  meeting  house,  near  Jenkin- 
town. A  high  stone  wall  surrounds  the  estate.  The  portico  and  piazza  which 
adorn  the  building  were  erected  by  J.  Francis  Fisher. 

The  trees  which  beautify  the  grounds,  and  which  have  come  from  many 
distant  quarters,  were  naturally  arranged  by  him,  so  that  the  effect  of  the 
landscape  view  is  remarkably  pleasing.  There  is  a  pretty  bridge,  and  the 
gentle  hills  and  valleys  add  to  the  effect  of  the  scene. 

Within  the  mansion  a  splendid  and  well  arranged  library  of  five  thou- 
sand volumes  delights  a  student's  eyes.  American  history,  ancient  classics, 
and  some  rare  books  are  here  found  on  the  first  floor  in  the  place  of  honor,  as 
worthy  guests. 

Joshua  Francis  Fisher,  Esq.,  was  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College. 

The  estate  is  called  Alverthorpe  from  a  place  in  England,  owned  by  an 
ancestor,  Joshua  Maude,  of  Yorkshire. 

It  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  suburban  residences  near  Philadelphia. 

This  country  seat  is  owned  and  occupied  by  Dr.  Henry  M.  Fisher,  a  son 
of  Joshua  Francis  Fisher ;  another  son,  George  H.  Fisher,  Esq.,  resides  in  Phil- 
adelphia. Joshua  Francis  Fisher  was  a  writer  on  political  and  historical 
subjects  and  wrote  the  private  life  of  Wm.  Penn,  and  an  essay  on  the  early 
poets  of  Pennsylvania,  published  by  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania, 
of  which  he  was  one  of  the  earliest  members  and  a  member  of  the  council. 

Bishop  Davies  of  Michigan  spent  several  summers  in  a  cottage  on  this 
place. 


192  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

J.  Francis  Fisher's  estate  covered  about  500  acres.  A  small  portion  near 
Shoemakertown  has  been  sold  to  George  S.  Fox,  the  broker,  of  Philadelphia, 
who  has  erected  houses  for  himself  and  his  two  sons  on  the  property  facing 
the  Old  York  Road. 

Judge  Hare  used  to  occupy  a  house  on  the  Fisher  estate.  A  little  cottage 
on  meeting  house  lane  is  very  picturesque. 

At  the  intersection  of  Forest  Avenue  I  noticed  the  work  of  a  strange  freak 
of  lightning.  A  telegraph  pole  was  shattered,  and  its  stump  remained  while 
the  cross-piece  containing  the  wires  was  suspended  in  the  air,  fastened  to  a 
tree  above  it. 

The  late  Mrs.  Sarah  Betts  owned  a  mansion  just  beyond  tlie  Fisher  place 
on  the  road  to  Milltown. 

Next  to  this  is  the  residence  of  Antony  Williams,  the  son  of  Mrs.  Betts  by 
a  previous  marriage. 

The  Misses  Towne  of  Philadelphia  have  built  a  pleasant  mansion  in 
modern  style  near  this  place. 

Mr.  Mifflin  of  Philadelphia  has  his  residence  in  summer  near  the  last 
named  mansion. 

THE  SATTERTHWAITE  NURSERY. 

About  a  mile  east  of  Jenkintown  is  the  large  nursery  of  Edwin  Satter- 
thwaite,  near  Alverthorpe.  He  is  a  successful  fruit-grower  as  premiums  at 
State  Fairs  indicate.  The  nursery  business  is  beneficial  to  the  community  in 
propagating  good  seed  to  multiply  under  God's  wonderful  care,  who  repeats 
the  story  of  the  creation  yearly  in  seed  time  and  harvest,  as  the  crop  comes  in 
wondrously  increased,  thirty,  sixty  and  a  hundred  fold. 

Mr.  Satterthwaite's  nursery  is  a  pleasant  sight  in  driving  and  the  flowers 
in  the  yard  of  the  cozy  mansion  add  to  its  beauty.  The  hill  at  the  nursery 
has  recently  been  graded,  throwing  a  part  of  the  road  into  a  deep  depression. 

Edwin  Satterthwaite  purchased  33  acres  of  land  and  the  stone  dwelling 
of  Mrs.  Polly  Grant  about  50  years  ago.  He  has  enlarged  the  house  which 
stands  in  a  pleasant  position  on  a  high  bank.  He  added  57  acres  by  purchas- 
ing the  Fletcher  place.  He  conducts  nursery,  fruit  and  trucking  business  on 
a  large  scale  here,  and  in  hedge  and  growing  trees  and  fruits  may  be  seen  the 
beautiful  handiwork  of  God  in  rich  abundance. 

James  Satterthwaite,  his  only  son,  is  a  contractor,  and  constructs  roads, 
keeping  some  60  horses  on  the  Fletcher  place  and  employing  from  75  to  150 
men.  Edwin  Satterthwaite  is  the  President  of  the  Cheltenham  and  Willow 
Grove  Turnpike  Company,  and  his  son  is  a  director.  The  Telford  road  in  front 
of  the  place  is  due  largely  to  the  generosity  of  the  father  and  son  in  adding 
greatly  by  stone  and  work  to  the  township  appropriation.  Such  individal  aid 
elsewhere  would  be  of  much  benefit  to  the  country  districts,  and  pay  in  com- 
fort of  horse  and  man,  and  wear  and  tear. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  193 

WASHINGTON  LANE. 

Over  20  years  ago  John  R,  Worral,  a  merchant  of  Philadelphia,  bought 
a  farm  on  the  road  leading  from  Shoemakertown  to  Huntingdon  Valley, 
and  extending  to  Washington  Lane.  He  made  a  comfortable  home  out  of 
the  dwelling  on  the  place,  which  is  now  owned  and  occupied  by  Dr.  Charles 
Willing  of  Philadelphia. 

On  the  Washington  Lane  front  he  set  apart  forty  acres  for  his  four 
children,  on  which  his  son,  and  the  liusbands  of  his  three  daughters  erected 
four  mansions  in  a  quadrangle.  One  of  them  is  still  occupied  by  Mr.  Pepper, 
a  son-in-law  of  Mr.  Worral,  and  the  others  are  occupied,  one  by  W.  W. 
Frazier,  one  by  Mr.  Beauveau  Borie,  and  one  by  Mr.  Hockley,  all  of  Phila- 
delphia.    These  are  all  very  elegant  places. 

Farther  on  towards  Huntingdon  Valley,  on  Washington  Lane  very 
elegant  houses  have  been  erected  by  Mr.  CurwenStoddart  and  Mr.  S.  H.  Gilbert, 
the  latter  at  Benezet  Station  on  the  Bound  Brook  branch  of  the  North  Penn 
Rail  Road.     The  old  family  name  of  the  station  has  been  changed  to  Rydal. 

Next  beyond  Dr.  Willing's,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  road.  Captain 
Robinson's  fine  place  of  considerable  extent  may  be  seen. 

Beyond  this  the  Reckless  property,  also  a  fine  one,  with  a  large  mansion 
has  place. 

Chelten,  the  residence  of  Beauveau  Borie,  was  a  part  of  the  Worral  prop- 
erty. Wm.  T.  Lober  who  married  Miss  Worral  built  the  house.  In  1886  Mr. 
Borie  rebuilt  this  stone  dwelling.  The  architect  was  George  C.  Mason,  Jr.,  of 
Philadelphia.  The  entrance  is  on  Washington  Lane,  between  W.  W.  Frazier's 
place  and  that  lane. 

BENEZET  (NOW  RYDAL). 

This  station  is  on  the  Bound  Brook  Rail  Road  not  far  distant  from  the  Old 
York  Road.  A  pretty  depot  was  erected  here  in  1883.  The  Stoddart  family 
have  built  two  elegant  residences  on  the  hills  near  by  which  invite  settle- 
ment. The  views  here  are  remarkably  beautiful,  and  this  railway  passes 
through  much  striking  scenery. 

LORAIN 

Was  a  part  of  the  Bockius  farm.  Samuel  H.  Gilbert,  a  Philadelphia 
manufacturer,  purchased  about  90  acres  of  land  comprising  a  portion  of  Thos. 
Buckman's  place.  Mr.  Gideon  Stoddart  had  previously  owned  a  portion  of 
this  property. 

The  house  was  built  about  six  years  ago.     Hazlehurst  &  Huckel  were  the 
architects,  and  Mr.  Steel  was  the  builder.     An  addition  was  made  by  Mr. 
Trumbaer  as  architect.     The  builders  were  Paul  J.  Essick's  Sons. 
13 


194  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Mr.  Curwen  Stoddart,  the  brother-in-law  of  Mr.  Gilbert,  has  a  very  fine 
residence  next  to  Mr.  Gilbert's  and  connected  with  his  grounds  by  a  drive- 
way. Stephen  Button  was  the  architect,  and  E.  D.  Lever  the  builder  of  this 
pleasant  country  home  which  stands  on  Washington  Lane. 

BARROWDALE. 

About  seven  years  ago  this  stone  and  brick  and  stucco  and  frame  build- 
ing being  a  combination  of  material  in  picturesque  form  on  a  fine  situation 
was  erected,  making  a  pretty  effect  in  its  relation  to  its  neighbor  Lorain. 

The  tunnel  under  the  railway  here  presents  a  striking  cutting  with 
massive  stone  work.  The  excellent  Telford  road  on  Washington  Lane  is  due 
to  contributions  of  public  spirited  residents  added  to  township  funds. 

RYDAL  WATERS. 

Mr.  Gideon  Stoddart's  place  in  the  old  woods  of  Henry  Stewart  near 
Rydal  Station  was  built  in  1889.  S.  Gifford  Slocum  of  New  York  was  the 
architect,  and  Paul  J.  Essick  the  builder.  The  entrance  is  on  Susquehanna 
Street  with  a  stone  gate-house.  An  old  stone  farm  house  built  about  a  century 
ago  was  occupied  by  Jesse  Dillon.     It  is  now  used  as  a  sort  of  museum. 

Rydal  Waters  is  the  name  of  the  place,  so-called  because  thirty-two 
springs  are  on  the  place. 

The  drive  through  the  ancient  grove  of  trees  wisely  left  standing  is  very 
beautiful ;  a  rustic  bridge  spans  a  small  stream  and  ravine,  and  rugged  and 
wild  rocks  are  surmounted  by  a  summer  house. 

Wordsworth's  poem  "  In  the  Woods  of  Rydal "  contains  some  beautiful 
lines  to  a  Redbreast  which  might  well  befit  the  grove  here : 

"  For  are  we  not  all  His,  without  whose  care 
Vouchsafed  no  sparrow  falleth  to  the  ground? 
Who  gives  His  Angels  wings  to  speed  through  air, 
And  rolls  the  planets  through  the  blue  profound." 

The  poet  has  various  poems  on  this  loved  spot  of  earth,  "  where  he  spent 
the  latter  half  of  his  life,  and  where,"  according  to  Prof  Knight,  the  editor  of 
his  "  Poetical  Works,"  "  he  found  one  of  the  most  perfect  retreats  in  England." 
America  does  not  lack  such  retreats  and  Eastern  Pennsylvania  abounds 
in  them. 

Joseph  M.  Stoddart,  the  father  of  Gideon  and  Curwen  Stoddart,  has  a 
residence  near  the  dwellings  of  his  sons.     The  name  of  this  place  is  Ashton. 

THE  CHURCH  OF  THE  IMMACULATE  CONCEPTION. 

Bean's  History  of  Montgomery  County  gives  notes  concerning  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  in  Jenkintown,  called  the  Church  of  the  Immaculate  Con- 
ception, when  Rev.  J.  J.  Mellon  was  pastor.     It  is  a  stone  building  in  "  Halian 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  195 

style,"  on  the  "  Corner  of  West  Avenue  and  Pleasant  Street."  It  was  built 
in  1866,  Christopher  Lugar  was  the  builder.  The  congregation  worshiped  for 
years  in  Lyceum  Hall.  There  is  a  parochial  house  of  two  stories  in  height 
**  attached  to  the  church." 

I  will  add  to  this  account  that  Rev.  T.  W.  Power  died  in  charge.  May 
20th,  A.  D.  1892,  and  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Hugh  Garvey,  and  on  September 
8th,  1892,  he  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Joseph  A.  Strahan  from  St.  Leo's,  Tacony, 
the  present  pastor;  the  following  addition  was  sent  me  by  him. 

The  corner-stone  was  laid  by  the  late  Archbishop  Wood  about  July  15, 
1866. 

Rev.  Thomas  Toner  was  the  first  rector  and  was  succeeded  in  beginning 
of  1871,  by  Rev.  William  Keane  who  died  here  in  May,  1881.  Rev.  John  J. 
Mellon  succeeded  him.  He  died  here  in  March,  1886.  Rev.  Thomas  W. 
Power  was  the  next  rector  and  he  died,  May  20,  1892.  Rev.  Hugh  Garvey 
succeeded  and  was  transferred  to  Coatesville,  Pa.,  September  8,  1892,  when  I 
came  into  the  rectorship. 

The  church  is  built  of  stone. 

A  DRIVE  NEAR  JENKINTOWN. 

Taking  the  old  Lime  Kiln  Road  which  leads  west  from  Jenkintown  to 
Fitzwatertown,  and  passing  on  the  left,  the  Baeder  estate,  we  come  upon  the 
beautifully  situated  and  model  farm  of  the  late  Edward  Unruh,  still  in  the 
possession  of  the  family,  and  conducted  by  his  worthy  son  B.  Franklin  Unruh ^ 
extending  to  the  south  of  which  is  the  Jonathan  Tyson  property,  recently 
purchased  by  Wharton  Barker  in  connection  with  the  Wharton  Switch  Com- 
pany.    Its  western  boundary  brings  us  to  the  village  of  Weldon, 

WELDON. 

This  typical  country  village  is  comparatively  modern.  The  credit  of  its 
origin  and  early  growth  is  due  to  two  enterprising  and  industrious  men,  John 
Michener  and  David  Lukens.  In  1854  John  Michener  built  with  his  own 
hands  a  store  and  residence  at  the  termination  of  a  road  running  from  this 
point  on  the  Lime  Kiln  Road,  to  the  Willow  Grove,  called  Feather  Bed  Lane, 
which  road,  for  nearly  a  mile  north,  formed  the  line  of  the  Germantown  and 
Willow  Grove  Plank  Road  and  Turnpike,  opened  in  1855.  This  store  property 
is  now  owned  by  Mr.  Hutchinson  Smith,  who  having  greatly  improved  it,  con- 
ducts an  important  business,  and  performs  the  duty  of  post-master  which  posi- 
tion he  has  held  since  its  being  granted  in  1868. 

The  opening  of  this  important  thoroughfare  of  course  gave  an  impetus  to 
the  start  made  by  Mr.  Michener,  who  going  on  with  more  houses,  was  imme- 
diately followed  by  David  Lukens,  son  of  Jonathan  Lukens  of  Abington.  He 
built  a  hotel  and  a  number  of  neat  and  ample  cottages,  and  was  soon  joined 
by  his  brother,  C.  Tyson  Lukens.      Two  of  these  houses,  somewhat  amplified, 


190  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

now  form  the  properties  of  Mr.  Jos.  C.  Hance  and  Mr.  Wm.  R.  Diller.  On  the 
site  of  what  is  now  Mr.  John  M.  Harmer's  carriage  factory,  being  in  the  center 
of  the  village,  stood  the  old  blacksmith  shop  of  Thomas  Tyson,  built  in  the 
beginning  of  this  century.  In  1854  it  formed  a  most  picturesque  feature  with 
the  remains  of  a  great  old  willow  tree  which  grew  beside  it,  and  contained 
much  that  was  curious  and  interesting  to  the  lover  of  antiquated  accompani- 
ments of  shops  of  that  kind.  At  that  time,  it,  together  with  the  old  house 
across  the  way  and  some  forty  acres  of  adjoining  land,  belonged  to  the  estate 
of  John  Pierson  of  Milestown.  The  original  house  on  the  Weldon  site,  and 
still  standing,  was  used  as  a  hospital  for  those  wounded  in  the  skirmish  which 
took  place  in  this  immediate  locality,  between  a  detachment  under  General 
Morgan,  and  Lord  Howe's  out-posts  at  the  time  of  Washington's  encampment 
on  Camp  Hill.     It  belonged  at  the  close  of  the  last  century  to  Abner  Bradfield. 

Abner  Bradfield  was  the  father  of  Abner  and  William  Bradfield  two 
worthj^  citizens  of  Abington ;  the  latter,  Abner,  was  especially  noted  for  his 
warm  hearted  philanthropy,  being  ever  ready  to  assist  with  both  time  and 
money  when  trials  and  misfortunes  demanded. 

The  deeds  of  this  property,  now  in  the  possession  of  Xanthus  Smith,  the 
present  owner,  give  a  clear  title  back  to  William  Penn. 

WILLIESIDE. 

In  1861,  the  late  Thomas  Smith,  long  President  of  the  Bank  of  North 
America,  purchased  a  portion  of  the  great  Hamel  tract,  lying  to  the  west  of 
Weldon,  and  built  a  handsome  stone  residence  on  a  knoll  commanding  a  fine 
view,  between  Weldon  and  the  North  Penn  Railroad.  Taking  into  con- 
sideration the  beautifully  sloping  and  perfectly  kept  lawn,  the  ground  slopes 
from  the  house  in  every  direction,  the  fine  lawn  trees,  and  fine  old  natural 
wood  to  the  north,  through  which  winds  a  picturesque  rivulet,  one  of  the 
sources  of  the  Tacony,  furnishing  a  pond  for  boating,  the  extended  farm  offices 
and  perfect  drives  and  hedges,  we  have  in  it  probably  the  most  complete 
country  estate  north  of  Philadelphia,  especially  when  we  consider  the  area  of 
surroundings  to  the  mansion.  Mr.  Smith  having  acquired  from  time  to  time 
the  properties  extending  up  and  down  the  line  of  the  rail  road  from  Edge 
Hill  village  on  the  west  to  a  point  a  short  distance  above  Jenkintown  Station 
on  the  east,  the  whole  comprising  upward  of  three  hundred  acres.  Willieside 
is  still  the  country  residence  of  the  widow  of  Thomas  Smith.  The  last 
acquisition  by  Mr.  Smith  in  the  direction  of  Jenkintown  was  the  property 
known  as  the  Paxson  farm,  it  having  been  long  in  the  possession  of  that 
family,  and  which  comprised  until  comparatively  recent  times  the  adjoining 
mill  property  on  which  stands  a  quaint  old  grist  mill  built  in  1745.  It  formed 
a  picturesque  and  interesting  feature  in  the  landscape,  until  a  few  years  ago, 
when  it  was  modernized  by  the  addition  of  a  high  frame  structure  on  the 
original  substantially  built  stone  lower  portion. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  197 

Communicated : 

RUSSELL  SMITH'S  HOME. 

On  the  summit  of  Edge  Hill  overlooking  Weldon  stands  the  residence  of 
Russell  Smith  ;  being  of  tower-like  design,  it  has  formed  a  conspicuous  feature 
from  the  tiuie  of  its  erection  in  1854. 

With  the  instincts  of  an  artist,  Mr.  Smith  on  determining  to  take  up  a 
country  life  in  1841,  chose  the  then  somewhat  wild  location  of  Rock  Hill, 
between  the  villages  of  Branchtown  and  Milestown  in  Philadelphia  County. 

On  a  rocky  hill  rising  abruptly  to  the  west  of  the  Old  York  Road  he 
built  an  ample  mansion  of  simple  design  from  the  terrace  in  front  of  which 
there  was  a  view  which  soon  became  noted  for  its  completely  picture-like 
arrangement.  A  mass  of  graceful  oaks  rising  from  a  beautifully  sloping  lawn 
and  balanced  by  picturesque  shrubbery  formed  a  sort  of  frame  work  to  a 
charming  meadow  and  wooded  vista  down  which  wound  the  brook  called 
Rock  Run. 

No  more  healthful  or  delightful  home  could  be  imagined  than  this 
beautiful  Rock  Hill  place,  which  for  upwards  of  ten  years  was  a  source  of 
attraction  and  pleasure  to  very  many  good  friends  and  others  who  visited  the 
landscape  painter.  It  was  here  that  Mary  Smith,  the  talented  and  lamented 
daughter  of  Russell  Smith,  was  born,  arid  that  his  two  children  spent  their 
earl}'"  childhood. 

It  was  a  matter  of  surprise  to  many  that  the  artist,  so  comfortably  situated 
should  think  of  making  a  change  in  his  location,  but  the  changes  that  came 
with  the  consolidation  of  Philadelphia  County  with  the  city  in  1854,  and  pos- 
sibly too,  a  predominance  of  that  instinct  which  had  brought  the  family  early 
in  the  century  from  Glasgow,  Scotland,  to  the  frontier  of  civilization,  led  Mr. 
Smith  to  dispose  of  his  property  and  seek  a  new  and  wilder  region,  further 
from  city  and  friends,  and  offering  to  the  fullest  extent  a  seclusion  which 
would  be  in  entire  harmony  with  his  feelings,  being  always  remarkable  for  a 
modest  and  retiring  disposition. 

A  number  of  extended  walks  with  his  wife,  brought  under  observation 
the  Edge  Hill  location.  Its  elevation  and  consequent  extended  view  gave  it 
an  attractiveness  above  other  considerations,  and  the  site  was  at  once  pur- 
chased and  a  house  erected. 

Being  entirely  absorbed  in  his  profession  and  desirous  to  avoid  the  cares 
of  a  farm  or  much  land,  and  at  the  same  time  that  he  might  be  entirely  inde- 
pendent of  surrounding  woods,  and  avail  himself  to  the  fullest  extent  of  the 
prospect,  he  designed  a  house  differing  entirely  from  that  which  he  built  at 
Rock  Hill.      Square,  of  stone,  and  upward  of  fifty  feet  in  height,  with  stone 


198  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

cornice,  flat  roof  and  no  projecting  wood  work,  it  resembles  many  towers  in 
different  parts  of  Europe,  and  for  years  after  its  construction,  when  there  was 
little  travelling  abroad,  as  yet,  and  few  country  mansions  other  than  those  with 
gabled  roofs  and  porticoes  or  porches,  it  formed  a  feature  of  interest  the  country 
over,  being  visible  for  from  five  to  ten  miles  in  every  direction,  and  of  criti- 
cism, and,  indeed,  not  always  approbative.  Its  purpose  and  uses  not  being 
understood  by  most  of  those  who  daily  saw  it,  it  was  looked  upon  as  a  stranger 
in  the  land  and  as  somewhat  of  a  curiosity,  and  for  years  after  it  was  built 
the  family  were  subject  to  visits  at  all  times  from  the  curious  who  had  come, 
sometimes  ten  and  fifteen  miles,  to  get  a  near  inspection  of  the  gray  stone 
tower  and  an  opportunity  to  see  the  view  from  its  summit,  which  soon  became 
famous,  and  which  still  is  a  source  of  interest  and  pleasure  to  those  who  care 
to  climb  Edge  Hill  and  ascend  the  artist's  observatory. 

In  a  large  studio,  upward  of  forty  feet  long  and  nearly  fifty  in  height, 
Russell  Smith  has  produced,  during  the  time  that  he  has  resided  at  Edge 
Hill,  a  very  large  amount  of  scenic  work  of  a  most  finished  kind.  It  would 
require  more  space  than  we  have  at  our  disposal  to  describe  this  work  and  its 
various  destinies.  We  can  but  mention,  that  in  addition  to  the  rest,  it  com- 
prised drop  curtains,  for  the  Academy  of  Music,  and  principal  theatres  in 
Philadelphia,  and  the  Academies  of  Music  and  best  dramatic  houses  in  New 
York,  Boston  and  Brooklyn.  In  the  intervals  between  orders  for  scenic  work, 
his  brush  has  been  ever  busy  upon  the  more  lasting  oil  branch,  many 
large  and  important  works  and  numerous  faithful  studies  from  Nature,  attest- 
ing to  his  talent  and  industry,  and  even  at  his  present  advanced  age,  being 
past  eighty  years,  he  is  able  to  practice  effectively  his  favorite  life's  pursuit. 
His  only  son  Xanthus  Smith,  with  his  family,  resides  with  him.  Xanthus 
Smith  is  an  artist,  and  best  known  for  his  large  historical  battle  pictures  of 
the  naval  actions  which  took  place  during  the  war  of  the  rebellion. 

Facing  Russell  Smith's  place,  is  the  large  and  handsome  property  of 
Canby  S.  Tyson,  cashier  of  the  Germantown  Bank,  son  of  Ellwood  Tyson,  and 
grandson  of  John  Tyson  who  resided  upon  the  property  during  the  early  part 
of  this  century.  Canby  S.  Tyson  is  also  a  grandson  of  Canby  Steel,  long 
and  well-known  in  connection  with  the  Farmers  and  Mechanics  Bank  of 
Philadelphia. 

The  latest  improvement  to  the  village  of  Weldon  is  the  handsome  resi- 
dence of  Mr.  Chas.  E.  Kelly,  grandson  of  Commodore  John  Kelly  of  the 
U.  S.  N.  Situated  on  the  brow  of  Edge  Hill,  it  commands  a  magnificent  pros- 
pect, and  with  its  picturesque  arched  stone  entrance,  serpentine  drive,  minia- 
ture lake,  and  beautiful  lawn  grove,  makes  all  that  could  be  desired  by  the 
lover  of  a  most  desirable  country  home. 

Weldon  became  conspicuously  known  much  sooner  after  inception  than 
it  otherwise  would,  on  account  of  the  active  part  taken  by  its  ladies  in  aiding 


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THE  YORK  ROAD.  201 

the  good  work  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  during  the  war  of  the  rebellion. 
Soon  after  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  a  sewing  society  was  organized  which  met 
for  a  year  in  a  large  room  used  as  a  ball  room  in  the  hotel.  During  this 
time  so  much  success  was  met  with,  both  in  the  full  and  earnest  attendance 
of  the  ladies,  and  the  amount  of  contributions  received,  that  it  was  determined 
to  build  a  hall.  Land  was  purchased,  the  society  regularly  incorporated,  a 
charter  being  granted  by  the  Legislature,  and  an  ample  frame  structure 
erected ;  the  site  being  at  the  north  side  of  the  village,  on  the  turnpike. 
Interest  in  the  societ}'  now  having  been  secured  over  a  circuit  of  some  five 
miles,  the  work  of  allaying  the  miseries  of  war  was  carried  on  in  the  most 
active  manner  until  the  close  of  the  rebellion.  One  of  the  most  interesting 
features  in  connection  with  this  enterprise,  was  the  willing  way  in  which  all, 
both  rich  and  poor,  aided  as  best  they  might,  by  work  and  by  contributions : 
which  was,  no  doubt,  largely  in  consequenc  of  the  general  confidence  felt  in 
those  in  management  of  the  business  of  the  society.  The  officers  during  the 
active  period  were.  President  Mrs.  John  Comly,  Secretary  Mrs.  Russell  Smith, 
and  Treasurer  Mrs.  EUwood  Tyson.  At  the  close  of  the  war  the  work  of  the 
society  was  continued  for  years  in  a  benevolent  and  literary  way,  and  the 
ladies  freely  granted  the  use  of  their  hall  for  suitable  entertainments,  and 
especially  for  religious  uses,  the  management  being  so  far  unsectarian  that 
the  building  was  open  for  the  use  of  any  congregation  that  might  desire  to 
use  it  for  divine  services  or  for  Sunday  School  purposes.  Of  those  who  did 
make  such  use  of  it,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Henry  C.  Davis,  aided  by  Miss  Mary  Smith 
(daughter  of  Russell  Smith),  Miss  Lizzie  Baeder,  Miss  Elliott  of  Jenkintown 
and  the  Misses  Unruh,  were  so  successful  in  their  management  of  a  Sunday 
School,  and  the  securing  of  attendance  of  divine  service,  that  in  1878  Russell 
Smith  made  the  offer  of  a  portion  of  his  ground  in  a  suitable  location,  upon 
the  turnpike,  adjoining  the  property  of  the  Ladies  Society,  upon  which  to 
erect  a  church ;  whereupon  Mr.  Thomas  Smith  generously  agreed  to  build  a 
simple  but  appropriate  church  structure,  and  the  work  was  proceeded  with  at 
once.  A  rector,  the  Rev.  W.  S.  Heaton  being  secured  and  service  being 
regularly  held  thereafter. 

After  the  death  of  Mr.  Thomas  Smith,  which  occurred  in  1883,  his  widow 
determined  to  erect  a  substantial  stone  structure  enclosing  the  wooden  one 
first  built,  the  design  being  by  Russell  Smith.  With  alterations  and  addi- 
tions that  have  been  made  from  time  to  time  since,  St.  Peter's  Memorial 
Church  now  appears  as  represented  in  the  accompanying  engraving,  which 
however  does  not  show  us  the  beautiful  chancel  with  the  fine  memorial 
windows,  executed  in  London,  to  the  memory  of  Thomas  Smith. 

In  the  most  convenient  proximity  to  the  church,  are  the  substantial  and 
ample  parish  building  and  rectory,  which,  with  the  perfect  lawns,  driveways 
and  necessary  adjuncts,  all  the  gift  of  the  widow  of  Thomas  Smith,  make 
the  whole  a  complete  and  beautiful  place  of  assemblage  for  divine  worship 
and,  under  the  Rectorship  of  the  Rev.  Alfred   A.  Rickert,  a  man  not  only 


202  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

reverenced  by  his  congregation,  but  beloved  by  all  who  have  the  good  fortune 
to  come  in  personal  contact  with  him,  and  who  has  held  the  rectorship  for 
the  past  seven  years,  now  presents  a  condition  of  prosperity  of  which  he  may 
well  be  proud. 

Taking  a  short  drive  from  Glenside,  through  Edge  Hill  village,  at  the 
intersection  of  Lime  Kiln  Pike  and  Church  Road  we  come  to  Waverly  Heights, 
containing  a  number  of  fine  residences  among  the  trees.  General  Robert  E. 
Patterson  owned  one  of  these  places  which  is  now  in  the  possession  of  Judge 
Elcock.  Mrs.  Bray,  mother  of  Dr.  Bray  of  Shoemakertown  has  another  of 
these  houses.  They  were  all  originally  built  by  Philadelphians.  They  are 
yellow  in  color. 

MARY  LAWN, 

Was  so  named  in  loving  remembrance  of  a  wife  and  daughter.  This 
is  a  fine  and  ample  stone  house,  with  an  extended  piazza.  It  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  beautiful  lawn  of  considerable  extent.  The  house  has  a  high 
and  commanding  position,  and  there  is  a  substantial  stone  barn,  which  is  a 
pleasant  feature  in  country  life.  Mr.  W.  H.  Kemble,  the  late  owner,  was  the 
President  of  the  Philadelphia  Traction  Company. 

The  country  seat  is  on  the  road  from  Willow  Grove  to  Chestnut  Hill 
where  it  joins  the  Church  Road. 

This  was  called  Stout  Hill.  Mr.  Stout's  property  was  bought  after  his 
death  by  Mr.  Kemble. 

Mr.  Kemble's  fine  massive  stone  gate  posts,  and  large  and  pretty  lawn 
are  noteworthy. 

A  great  boulder  juts  into  the  road  and  a  windmill  has  been  erected  over 
a  spring. 

Mr.  Stout's  residence  was  lower  down  the  hill  on  the  opposite  side. 

SUNSET. 

This  fine  country  seat  with  its  wide  and  beautiful  lawn  is  at  the  corner 
of  Church  Road  and  Mermaid  Lane. 

A  year  ago  this  was  an  open  field.  On  the  7th  of  March,  1891,  ground 
was  broken,  and  on  the  7th  of  April,  1892,  the  house  was  occupied.  Wm.  H. 
Kemble  began  the  house  for  his  son.  Clay  Kemble  and  the  son  finished  it. 
James  H.  Windrim  was  the  architect,  and  Jacob  Garber  the  builder. 

This  large  stone  mansion  is  a  striking  object  from  the  road  and  the  eleva- 
tion makes  it  visible  from  Norristown,  nine  miles  distant. 

FALCONHILL, 

Next  to  the  home  of  Clay  Kemble  is  being  constructed,  by  John  C.  Sims, 
Secretary  of  the  Pennsylvania  Rail  Road.  The  dwelling  is  of  brick  of 
Jacobean  architecture,  and  pleasing  design.  Cope  &  Stewartson  are  architects, 
and  the  builder  is  Wm.  R.  Dougherty. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  205 

VERNON. 

Vernon  was  bought  by  Wm.  Henry  Newbold  about  1850  of  Dr.  Edwin 
Schofield,  who  purchased  of  Mr.  Jenkins.  The  Jenkins  homestead  is  a  quite 
ancient  stone  building;  the  addition  is  in  two  parts  which  have  different 
dates  making  a  history  of  the  family.  It  is  an  ample  old  mansion  and  looks 
very  cosy  and  comfortable,  and  keeps  up  a  thought  of  old  times  among  its 
new  neighboring  dwellings.  John  S.  Newbold  heired  the  propert}'^,  and  his 
estate  owns  it,  and  the  family  reside  there. 

Vernon  was  named  b}^  Wm.  H.  Newbold  from  Vernon  in  Burlington 
County,  New  Jersey,  which  is  a  Newbold  property,  and  that  took  its  name 
from  a  Newbold  estate  in  England. 

This  country  seat  lies  on  Washington  Lane,  and  is  also  entered  by  an 
avenue  running  by  the  side  of  the  Church  of  Our  Saviour. 

Jno.  S.  Newbold's  estate,  contains  a  mansion  house,  which  was  built  by 
one  of  the  Jenkins  famih%  perhaps  Jesse  Jenkins,  who  occupied  it.  Samuel 
Schofield  became  owner  of  the  Newbold  place,  and  on  his  death  his  son 
Edwin  heired  it,  and  sold  it  to  Wm.  II.  Newbold,  father  of  the  late  John  S. 
Newbold. 

The  following  Revolutionary  incident  is  connected  with  this  place: 

Captain  Craig,  an  American  officer  was  pursued  by  a  British  officer. 
Both  were  mounted,  and  the  American  captain,  knowing  of  a  cellar  which 
had  been  dug  on  John  Newbold's  place,  and  was  covered  with  bushes,  got 
ahead  of  his  pursuer,  and  concealed  himself  and  horse  in  this  opening  safely. 
The  British  officer  rode  round  for  a  time,  and  gave  up  the  chase. 

I  add  another  story  of  the  Revolution. 

In  Sherman  Day's  Historical  Collections  of  Pennsylvania,  which  volume 
collects  the  General  and  Local  Ilistor}'  and  Antiquities  of  the  State  in  an 
interesting  manner,  is  an  extract  from  the  Saturday  Bulletin  of  1829,  con- 
cerning Colonel  Allan  McLane,  who  died  in  Wilmington,  Delaware  that  year 
aged  83.     This  courageous  officer  belonged  to  Major  Lee's  legion  of  horse. 

In  riding  near  Shoemakertown  the  Colonel  told  two  of  his  troopers  who 
followed  him,  if  they  saw  the  enemy,  to  ride  up  and  inform  him  silently,  but 
they  forgetting  orders  cried  out,  "Colonel,  the  British!"  and  fled.  The 
enemy  had  allowed  the  American  officer  to  enter  an  ambuscade.  The  soldiers 
fired  at  the  Colonel,  but  he  hastened  his  horse  into  the  woods,  where  he  fell 
among  other  English  soldiers,  who  allowed  him  to  pass,  thinking  he  was 
about  to  surrender  himself.  Several  pursued,  but  the  frightened  horse  having 
been  wounded,  hastened  on.  The  Colonel  shot  and  fatally  wounded  one 
pursuer  who  seized  him,  the  second  soldier  wounded  his  left  hand  with  his 
sword,  but  a  second  pistol  settled  his  fate.  The  American  officer  then  left  his 
horse,  and  fearing  "  he  might  die  from  loss  of  blood  "  stopped  its  flow  at  a 
millpond.    A  painting  was  made  "  of  this  desperate  encounter,"  (pages  501-2). 


206  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Bosler's  Mill  is  said  to  be  the  place  of  this  exploit.  Col.  McLane's  grand- 
son became  Minister  from  this  country  to  France. 

FAIR  ACRES, 

The  residence  of  John  W.  Pepper. 

This  ample  and  remarkably  beautiful  and  architectural  abode  makes  a 
picture,  in  driving  along  Washington  Lane,  which  draws  the  attention  of 
every  passer-by.    The  building  is  of  stone,  pebble-dashed. 

Wilson  Eyre,  Jr.,  was  the  architect,  and  W.  H.  Thomas,  the  builder. 
The  building  was  erected  in  1886. 

The  varied  angles  and  extended  front  are  quite  a  feature  here. 

Frederick  S.  Pepper,  Esq.,  in  1856  erected  a  stone  mansion  on  another 
part  of  the  Jenkins  farm,  for  this  whole  tract  belonged  to  that  estate.  This 
has  been  the  summer  home  of  the  family  from  that  date  and  is  now  occupied 
by  the  widow. 

John  R.  Worral  went  to  the  neighborhood  of  Jenkintown  in  1853  and 
bought  120  acres  of  the  Jenkins  estate.  He  altered  and  enlarged  the  farm 
house  for  a  country  place.  He  gave  his  three  daughters  and  son  each  ten 
acres  on  which  they  erected  stone  dwellings.  The  son  James  Worral  owned 
what  is  now  W.  W.  Frazier's  place.  Mrs.  W.  T.  Loher's  place  is  the  summer 
residence  of  Beauveau  Borie. 

Mrs.  Fisher's  house  is  now  the  estate  of  John  R.  Hockley. 

Above  the  Newbold  estate  on  the  east  of  the  York  Road,  the  estate  of 
Samuel  Noble  come^  in.  This  was  also  a  portion  of  the  Jenkins  property. 
A  part  of  the  Baeder  estate  also  belonged  to  the  Jenkins  tract.  Both  these 
properties  are  cut  by  the  Bound  Brook  Railroad,  and  Noble  Station,  taken 
from  a  part  of  the  farm  is  named  after  the  family. 

On  the  west  side  of  the  York  Road  a  small  portion  of  Mr.  Lambert's 
property  also  belonged  to  the  Jenkins  tract.  An  old  stone  building  opposite 
the  Noble  farm-house  was  a  residence  of  the  Jenkins  family.  Wm.  Jenkins, 
the  ancestor  of  the  family  died  in  this  house  as  well  as  his  son  Stephen. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  pike,  about  100  yards  above  the  station  an 
old  well  was  discovered  which  had  been  covered  by  a  large  flat  stone.  It  has 
been  filled  up,  and  is  under  Mr.  Baeder's  wall.  This  may  have  indicated  the 
location  of  a  previous  house. 

John  Kennedy  owned  and  occupied  the  Jenkins  house  for  a  number  of 
years.  He  died  there.  He  had  a  tannery,  which  has  disappeared,  but  the 
old  stone  used  for  grinding  the  bark  remains  to  mark  the  spot. 

It  is  supposed  that  Moses  Shepherd  lived  at  this  place,  and  carried  on 
tanning  before  Mr.  Kennedy  held  it. 

All  but  a  small  portion  of  Mrs.  Merritt's  fine  property  was  in  the 
Jenkins  tract. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  207 

John  McNair  built  the  spacious  mansion  on  this  place,  and  conducted  a 
Boys'  Boarding  School,  and  was  successful  in  the  undertaking,  continuing  it 
for  several  years.  He  had  pupils  from  a  distance,  some  being  from  the  South. 
He  sold  the  property  and  removed  to  Virginia  where  he  died. 

Mr,  McNair  sold  the  place  to  Samuel  Smith,  who  continued  the  school 
for  a  moderate  length  of  time. 

Samuel  Smith  sold  to  another  family  of  Smiths  from  Philadelphia,  who 
occupied  it  as  a  summer  residence. 

The  cutting  of  the  pike,  and  a  ha-ha  wall,  and  a  natural  terrace  above  it 
make  this  a  very  pretty  place,  and  the  trees  of  the  lawn  add  to  its  beauty. 
The  opening  of  the  drive  in  the  rear  has  a  striking  effect  in  the  ascent  of  the 
hill.     A  new  piazza  is  being  constructed  to  surround  the  house. 

Above  the  Merritt  place  we  reach  the  farm  of  the  Stewart  estate.  Mrs. 
Eliza  Stewart,  the  owner  of  this  property,  died  a  few  years  since  in  her  95th 
year.     Her  son  Henry  now  occupies  the  farm. 

Mrs.  Stewart  inherited  this  property  from  her  mother,  Mrs.  Mary  Dillon, 
who  was  a  Miss  Schriver.  The  Schriver  family  owned  where  the  Wharton 
Switch  Works  now  stand. 

The  large  three-story  stone  house  of  the  Stewart  family  is  just  on  the 
roadside  next  above  Mrs.  Merritt's.  The  farm  extends  to  Susquehanna 
Street  Road. 

The  part  of  the  Jenkins  tract  not  already  described  belongs  to  the 
Stoddart  family  and  its  various  members,  except  lots  which  are  owned  by 
Michael  Connor  and  Wm.  Frazier.  All  of  these  sections  have  been  built 
upon.     This  embraces  the  whole  Jenkins  tract. 

In  the  division  of  the  Jenkins  property,  Phineas,  son  of  Stephen,  who 
was  the  son  of  the  original  William,  obtained  the  Newbold  farm,  and  from 
him  it  went  to  his  son  Jesse,  who  was  the  father-in-law  of  the  elder  Judge 
Ross,  who  was  named  John.  The  Tate  Judge  Henry  P.  Ross,  of  Norristown, 
was  a  grandson. 

Judge  John  Ross  lived  in  Dr.  John  Paxson's  house,  next  above  the  bank. 
He  erected  the  south  end  of  this  long  stone  house.  His  father-in-law,  Jesse 
Jenkins,  of  whom  he  bought  the  property,  built  the  north  part. 

Judge  Ross  sold  the  place  to  John  Morrison  in  1824,  and  moved  to 
Doylestown,  where  he  died. 

Mr.  Morrison  sold  to  J.  Lukens  Grant  in  1832. 

He  in  turn  sold  to  Job  Roberts  in  1835,  and  in  1837  Dr.  Chas.  Shoe- 
maker bought  of  him,  and  in  1840  the  Doctor  sold  to  Henry  Sailor.  The 
same  year  Mr.  Sailor  conveyed  it  to  Spencer  Shoemaker.  In  1847  he  con- 
veyed it  back  to  Dr.  Shoemaker,  and  in  1852  he  conveyed  it  to  Dr.  Joshua  R. 
Evans,  and  1853  he  reconveyed  this  much-sold  property  to  Dr.  Shoemaker, 
who  in  1865  sold  to  Caroline  E.  J.  Budd,  wife  of  Dr.  Chas.  H.  Budd. 

Dr.  Budd  conveyed  it  to  the  present  owner  Dr.  Paxson. 


208  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

• 

It  is  believed  that  the  Sarah  Jenkins,  whom  W.  J.  Buck  mentions  in 
Bean's  history  as  keeping  the  hotel,  which  in  Revolutionary  days  was  called 
Jenkins's  Tavern,  and  gave  name  to  the  town,  was  a  wddow  of  one  of  the 
descendants  of  the  old  Jenkins  family. 

The  hotel  stood  just  below  the  present  Cottman  Houses  which  takes  its 
name  from  its  host. 

When  Mr.  Cottman  tore  down  the  old  hotel  a  few  years  ago  it  was  found 
by  the  ancient  division  walls  to  have  been  erected  at  different  times. 

Mrs.  John  Hamel  died  in  Jenkintown  in  her  96th  ^ear,  and  her  sister, 
Mrs.  Hildebrandt  in  her  94th  year.  For  these  cases  of  longevity  see  the 
biographical  sketch  of  George  Hamel,  in  Bean's  History  of  Montgomery 
County,  p.  697. 

Thomas  Buckman,  Sr.,  finds  place  among  the  biographical  notices  in 
Abington.  His  wife  is  a  daughter  of  Thomas  Brooke,  who  was  a  soldier  in 
the  war  of  1812,  and  her  grandfather  was  Major  William  Brooke  of  Revolu- 
tionary days.  The  Brooke  family  are  of  Delaw^are  County,  and  are  well 
known  as  having  been  old  residents  of  Radnor  and  Marple. 

Thomas  T.  Mather  receives  a  proper  notice  in  Bean's  History.  He  was  a 
skilful  farmer,  versed  in  horticulture  and  fruit  culture  and  was  a  director 
of  Jenkintown  National  Bank. 

The  Orthodox  Friends'  Meeting-House  has  a  quiet  and  pleasant  position 
on  the  Cheltenham  Road.  It  is  a  stone  building,  one-story  high,  surrounded 
by  a  yard.  It  is  about  a  half  a  mile  from  the  old  Abington  meeting  house, 
next  to  the  Fisher  place  on  the  road  from  Jenkintown  to  Milltown. 

THE  NOBLE  FARM. 

There  was  a  house  on  the  Noble  farm  above  Jenkintown  in  front  of  the 
present  one,  which  was  built  by  one  of  the  .Jenkins  family.    It  was  demolished. 

The  present  large  house  of  stone,  and  the  barn  of  the  same  material  were 
built  by  Samuel  W.  Noble  in  1844.  The  property  had  descended  to  Samuel 
W.  Noble  from  his  father  Samuel  Noble,  who  purchased  of  John  Rowlett. 

Samuel  Noble  died  in  1886.  His  widow  resides  on  the  place,  together 
with  her  sons,  Samuel,  Charles  and  Howard. 

Samuel  and  Charles  carry  on  the  coal  and  lumber  business  here. 
Howard  is  the  teller  of  the  Jenkintown  Bank.  His  father  was  President  of  the 
Bank  from  its  organization  in  1875  until  his  death. 

Howard  Noble  is  erecting  a  neat  modern  cottage  on  the  Valley  Road, 
and  on  the  lower  side  of  the  Railroad. 

There  is  a  mineral  spring  on  the  Noble  farm,  a  little  below  the  spring- 
house.  This  chalybeate  spring  used  to  attract  travellers  who  stopped  to 
drink,  and  to  carry  away  some  of  its  waters. 

Across  Susquehanna  Street  Road,  above  Henry  Stewart's  farm,  lies  the 
farm  of  A.M.  Herkness,  of  Philadelphia.  His  son  Morris  occupies  it  as  a 
summer  residence. 


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THE  YORK  ROAD.  213 

About  1830  it  was  rumored  that  gold  could  be  found  on  this  farm  in 
paying  quantities.  An  Englishman  leased  the  right  of  digging  and  began 
excavations,  and  gold  in  light  quantity  was  discovered,  but  the  Englishman 
returned  too  late,  as  although  lie  claimed  his  privilege,  the  allotted  time  had 
expired,  and  the  experiment  was  never  repeated. 

ABINGTON  OR  MOORETOWN. 

Mooretown  was  so  called  from  a  Mrs.  Moore  who  kept  the  tavern.  Jesse 
B.  Dillion  a  storekeeper  here  gave  the  name,  as  some  name  was  needed  to 
define  the  place,  as  Abington  was  in  Abington  Township.  The  village  has 
now  resumed  its  original  name,  and  the  post-office  has  taken  it. 

Miss  Maria  Stewart,  a  niece  of  Rev.  Dr.  Wm.  Tennent,  who  was  pastor  of 
the  Abington  Presbyterian  Church,  was  once  riding  in  a  sleigh,  and  would 
not  ask  for  Moorctow^n  when  she  was  lost,  as  she  disliked  the  new  name,  and 
so  wandered  for  some  time.  Dr.  Tennent  was  a  grandson  of  the  Dr.  William 
Tennent  who  established  the  Log  College. 

Abington  was  settled  by  Friends  from  England,  and  as  some  of  them 
came  from  Abington  they  gave  that  name  to  their  new  home. 

The  Misses  Stewart's  old  stone  liouse,  on  the  York  Road,  nearly  opposite 
Guernsey  Avenue,  was  built  in  the  early  days  of  the  village  by  George 
Stevens,  perhaps  about  1800. 

Mrs.  Gwinner  had  a  Girls'  Boarding  School  here. 

Afterward  Mr.  Joseph  Longhead  kept  a  Boys'  Boarding  School  in  the 
house. 

Still  later  Mr.  John  Steel,  brother  of  Rev.  Dr.  Steel  conducted  a  school  in 
this  place. 

I  am  indebted  to  Miss  Mary  Stewart  for  the  above  information. 

AYSGARTH. 

Mr.  John  Lambert's  proj^erty  which  bears  this  name,  formerly  was  a  part 
of  the  glebe  of  the  Abington  Presbyterian  Church,  which  owned  ninety-four 
acres  of  it ;  this  was  sold,  it  is  believed,  to  raise  funds  to  build  the  present 
church.  There  were  two  other  owners  before  Mr.  Lambert.  Twelve  acres 
"  were  in  the  occupancy,  for  many  years,  of  the  Kennedy  family,  who  had  a 
tannery  thereon.  This  was  the  southeastern  part."  Mr.  Lambert  has  a 
pleasant  stone  residence. 

Rev.  Dr.  Treat  had  this  building  erected  for  a  parsonage.  He  superin- 
tended a  Girls'  Boarding  School  at  this  place. 

Dr.  Steel  occupied  the  house  and  had  a  Boarding  School  here  for  boys  for 
many  years.     It  was  sold  during  his  pastorship. 

The  famous  Princeton  divine  Charles  Hodge,  and  his  brother  Hugh 
Hodge,  M.  D.,  boarded  for  years  on  Susquehanna  Avenue  near  Mooretown  on 
what  was  then  Jacob  Fulmer's  place. 


214  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Miss  Ann  and  Miss  Maria  Stewart  formerly  resided  near  Mr.  Hallowell's 
on  the  other  side  of  the  street.  They  were  the  children  of  the  sister  of  Dr. 
Wm.  Tennent  who  had  married  the  younger  son  of  a  Scotch  family. 

A  tragic  history  connected  with  this  family  gives  it  interest. 

The  house  now  belongs  to  John  B,  Stevenson's  estate. 

Mr.  Peter  Hallowell's  ancient  stone  residence  is  one  of  the  oldest  houses 
in  Abington  village. 

It  has  been  over  a  century  since  it  was  erected. 

Mr.  Wm,  Hallowell  purchased  the  house  about  ninety  years  ago. 

Mr.  Peter  Hallowell  has  raised  the  house  and  modernized  it  by  adding 
piazzas. 

There  is  a  quaint  old  horse-block  on  the  upper  side  of  the  yard,  and  steps 
on  the  inside  of  a  triangular  form. 

This  old  wall  was  not  allowed  to  be  removed  in  the  widening  of  the  pike. 
This  is  a  pleasant  reminder  of  old  horse-back  riding  times,  when  ladies  used 
to  visit  their  friends  in  that  way.  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Peter  Hallowell  for 
this  information. 

The  Abington  hotel  may  be  about  as  old  as  the  house  just  described.  It 
was  about  to  be  put  to  another  use  when  I  saw  it. 

The  Misses  Wigfall  reside  in  the  brown  house  just  below  the  Abington 
Hotel. 

A  blacksmith  shop,  two  stores  and  a  wheelwright  shop  are  in  Abington 
village.  W.  J.  Buck,  in  Bean's  History,  says  that  the  blacksmith  shop  was 
there  in  1807,  and  John  Brugh  was  the  blacksmith. 

Two  new  houses  were  arising  in  this  ancient  village,  and  land  was 
coming  into  the  market  at  the  time  of  my  visit,  though  for  a  long  time  it  was 
difficult  to  get  locations  for  building. 

The  old  stone  store  and  dwelling  is  now  owned  by  Samuel  F.  Bockius 
who  came  from  Germantown.  He  resides  in  the  house.  The  store  is  leased 
to  Francis  &  Boutcher. 

Moore  Stevens,  grandson  of  Mary  Moore  who  kept  the  inn,  used  to  own 
and  conduct  this  store,  and  did  a  large  country  business.  He  now  resides  in 
Philadelphia.  He  procured  it  about  1830  from  David  Thomas,  who  moved 
to  the  city. 

Next  above  the  Presbyterian  parsonage  an  ancient  stone  house  occupied 
by  Mr.  Baggs  is  the  property  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

It  was  used  as  a  parsonage  by  Rev.  Dr.  Steel  after  he  gave  up  his  school. 
He  and  his  wife  died  here  and  are  buried  in  the  neighboring  churchyard. 

Dr.  George  Harris,  who  afterward  moved  to  Jenkintown,  and  thence  to 
Baltimore,  where  he  died,  lived  for  a  time  in  this  house. 

Prior  to  this  Dr.  Phillips  dwelt  in  it.  It  was  also  occupied  by  the  Lukens 
family. 

A  small  stone  house  between  Abington  Presbyterian  Church  and  Mr. 
Lambert's  entrance,  occupied  by  the  sexton,  James  Holmes,  is  an  ancient 
structure. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  215 

The  house  with  a  fine  yard  next  above  the  Misses  Stewart's  abode  belongs 
to  Mr.  Dando,  who  is  engaged  in  printing  in  the  city. 

Dr.  Hicklin,  it  is  thought  had  this  house  built. 

Rev.  Dr.  Wm.  Newton  owned  it  for  a  time  and  sold  to  Mr.  Frismuth,  who 
in  turn  sold  to  Mr.  Dando. 

The  mansion  has  a  pleasant  bay  window  on  the  upper  side,  and  a  pretty 
piazza,  while  there  is  a  conservatory  in  the  rear. 

Wm.  J.  Buck  contributes  the  sketch  of  this  township  to  Bean's  History, 
and  the  parts  pertaining  to  the  Old  York  Road  may  be  gleaned  from  his  faith- 
ful notes. 

Abington  lies  above  Cheltenham  Township  and  Jenkintown  borough 
which  was  taken  from  it  in  1874.     Abington  is  an  English  name. 

Sarah  Fuller  obtained  600  acres  of  land  from  Penn  in  1684  which  reached 
from  Jenkintown  beyond  the  Friends'  Meeting  House.  John  Barnes  in  the 
same  year,  bought  250  acres,  and  also  Sarah  Fuller's  tract,  not  long  after- 
ward. In  1697  he  gave  120  acres  for  a  Friends'  Meeting  House  and  school 
house.  A  new  meeting  house  was  thus  built  to  take  the  place  of  the  one  at 
Oxford.  The  minutes  of  the  Abington  Meeting  are  important,  as  indeed  all 
the  Friends'  minutes  are,  and  that  they  deserve  great  credit  for  such  work 
may  be  seen  in  the  volumes  copied  at  the  rooms  of  the  Historical  Society  of 
Pennsylvania.  The  minutes  here  show  that  Sarah  Fuller,  in  1687,  married 
William  Dillwyn ;  and  in  1688  John  Barnes  married  Mary  Arnold.  Wm. 
Jenkins  bought  a  part  of  the  Barnes  tract,  and  styled  his  dwelling  and  planta- 
tion "  Spring  Head.  "  His  wife  was  named  Elizabeth.  His  son  Stephen 
married  Phineas  Pemberton's  daughter,  of  Falls  Township,  in  Bucks  County, 
in  1704.  The  wife's  name  was  Abigail.  They  lived  on  Samuel  W.  Noble's 
place,  "  on  the  York  Road,  about  half  a  mile  north  of  Jenkintown." 

The  Tysons  were  old  settlers  of  German  stock  in  Abington,  and  hold 
much  land  there.  The  lime  for  erecting  the  State  House  in  1729  to  1735  came 
from  the  kilns  of  Ryner  Tyson  in  Abington  Township.  The  family  continues 
the  business  of  lime-burning.  The  seedling  of  the  "  Tyson  pear  was  dug  up 
from  Friends'  school  property  by  Jonathan  Tyson,  and  replanted  in  the  rear 
of  Charles  Harper's  store  in  Jenkintown.  Its  origin  dates  between  the  years 
1790  and  1800.  " 

Abington  village  is  ancient.  The  Old  York  Road  and  Susquehanna 
Street  intersected  here  in  1712.  There  are  "  two  stores,  a  post-office,  and 
several  mechanic  shops"  here.  Gordon's  Gazetteer,  in  1832,  gives  the  place 
10  or  12  houses,  and  a  tannery,  and  a  Boys'  Boarding  School,  2  stores  and  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  Reading  Howell's  map  of  1792  calls  the  place  "  Shep- 
herd's, "  but  Scott's  Gazetteer,  in  1795,  names  it  "  Abington.  "  Mary  Moore 
had  a  tavern  here  called  the  "  Square  and  Compass,  "  "  at  least  from  1787  to 
1808. "  This  caused  the  village  to  be  called  Mooretown.  The  blacksmith 
shop  at  the  corner  of  York  Road  and  Susquehanna  Street  was  used  as  a  stand 
by  John  Brugh,  in  1807. 


216  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

ABINGTON   VILLAGE. 

The  following  was  sent  me  by  Rev.  Dr.  L.  W.  Eckard  when  he  resided  at 
Abington  : 

"  An  old  settlement.  Dates  back  to  1712.  Contains  1  hotel  (now  being 
destroyed)  two  stores,  several  mechanic  shops,  almost  50  dwellings  and  the 
Presbyterian  Church. " 

"  The  post  office  was  established  in  1832.  The  burial  ground  connected 
with  the  church  contains  many  interesting  graves  of  local  celebrities.  Dr. 
Finley,  fifth  President  of  Princeton  College  rests  here." 

Mary  Moore  kept  the  tavern,  with  the  sign  of  "  The  Square  and  Com- 
pass "  from  1787  to  1808.     Thomas  Dungan  was  proprietor  in  1779. 

John  McNair  taught  a  Boys'  Academy  here  about  1828  with  much 
success. 

Four  new  houses  are  now  being  built.  Ground  has  been  already  pur- 
chased for  a  handsome  High  School  building  which  will  be  erected  in  the 
spring.  Three  new  streets  are  being  cut,  and  building  lots  rapidly  thrown  on 
the  market.  A  street  railway  from  Noble  Station  to  the  village  is  likely  to  be 
built.  There  seems  no  doubt  of  it  if  consent  of  Turnpike  Company  can  be 
secured,  which  we  are  told  is  probable." 

The  following  extract  is  from  the  Philadelphia   Times,  of  August  20th, 

A.  D.  1892 : 

"  THE  LITTLE   VILLAGE  CHURCH." 

A  structure  dear  to  the  hearts  of  Abington  Presbyterians. 

What  its  records  tell. 

In  one  hundred  and  seventy-eight  years  but  nine  ministers  have  been 
connected  with  the  church  and  during  the  first  one  hundred  and  forty-eight 
years  death  alone  occasioned  changes  in  the  pastorate.  Some  projected 
improvements. 

On  a  clear  summer  day,  when  the  sun's  rays  dispel  the  morning  mist, 
enveloping  with  its  shimmering  veil  gently  sloping  hills  and  green  meadow- 
land,  the  slender  spire  of  the  little  Presbyterian  Church  at  Abington  village 
can  be  seen  for  miles,  a  thin  thread  of  dark  against  a  background  of  blue 
morning  sky.  High  up  in  the  belfry  a  tuneful  monitor  breathes  its  silvery 
peal,  which  is  carried  far  down  in  the  valley  on  the  breath  of  the  wandering 
wind. 

Dear  to  the  heart  of  the  villagers  is  the  music  of  this  bell.  To  the  old  its 
tones  vibrate  through  the  peaceful  past ;  and  for  the  young,  they  seem  to 
prophecy  summer  days  still  to  come.  The  first  dawn  of  this  new,  happy  future 
brightened  the  little  church  last  Sunday  when  the  congregation  responded  to 
an  eloquent  appeal  for  funds  to  carry  out  needful  improvements  by  subscrib- 
ing $4,000.  This  sum  will  be  used  in  the  enlargement  of  the  lecture  room, 
thus  increasing  facilities  for  Sunday  school  work.     Bible  class  rooms  and  a 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  217 

parlor  and  kitchen  are  to  be  added,  and  the  small  instrument  used   in  the 
auditorium  will  be  replaced  by  a  handsome  pipe  organ. 

This,  the  fifth  time  that  Presbyterians  at  Abington  have  obeyed  a  pre- 
emptory  call  for  "  church  room,  "  suggests  much  that  is  interesting  in  the 
history  of  the  old  church,  founded  as  far  back  as  1714. 

One  hundred  and  seventy-eight  years  ago  a  little  band  of  sixty-five 
formed  a  congregation  at  Abington,  with  Malachi  Jones  as  pastor,  and  Abed- 
nego  Thomas,  Benjamin  Jones,  StofFel  Van  Saint  and  Joseph  Breden  as  elders. 
Five  years  later  a  long  structure,  the  first  Presbyterian  meeting  house  in  Mont- 
gomery County,  was  erected  within  the  limits  of  the  present  village  burial 
ground. 

For  seventy-four  years,  sheltered  by  this  modest  cabin,  hymns  were  sung, 
prayers  offered  and  sermons  preached  by  staunch  old  followers  of  John  Calvin. 
In  1793  what  is  known  as  the  "  second  church  " — this  time  a  stone  building, 
was  erected  on  the  site  of  the  present  edifice,  and  forty  more  years  elapsed  ere 
its  growing  numbers  demanded  necessary  modifications.  It  w^as  finally 
deemed  expedient  to  replace  this  structure  by  an  entirely  new  church  home, 
and  the  present  building  was  erected  in  1866. 

The  church  records  bring  to  notice  two  facts  worthy  of  special  mention. 
In  178  years  but  nine  ministers  have  been  connected  with  the  church  and 
during  the  first  148  years,  death  alone  occasioned  change  in  the  pastorate. 

Rev.  Malachi  Jones  was  63  years  old  when  he  settled  at  Abington.  It 
was  during  the  time  of  his  successor.  Dr.  Richard  Treat,  that  Whitefield  was 
entertained  in  1740,  and  the  great  Indian  missionary,  Brainerd,  also  visited 
the  church.  Rev.  William  Tennent,  D.  D.,  grandson  of  the  founder  of  the 
Log  College  and  the  fourth  pastor  called,  w^as  followed  by  Rev.  Mr.  Dunlap. 
Dr.  Robert  Steel  served  forty  years  at  Abington,  his  first  and  only  charge. 

The  bodies  of  tliese  five  pastors  rest  in  the  burial  ground  opposite  the 
church. 

In  1863  Dr.  J.  L.  Withrow,  now  in  Chicago,  was  selected  by  the  congre- 
gation, and  Rev.  Samuel  Lowrie  in  1869.  From  a  five  years'  sojourn  in  the 
Chinese  missionary  field  Rev.  Leighton  Eckert  returned  to  serve  as  shepherd 
of  the  little  country  flock  from  May  25,  1875,  until  July,  1891. 

The  present  pastor.  Rev.  Llewellyn  S.  Fulmer,  was  ordained  and  installed 
May  10  of  this  year.  During  the  three  months  of  work  in  the  church  he  has 
won  the  respect  and  hearty  co-operation  of  his  people." 

I  add  that  Dr.  Eckard  is  now  pastor  of  the  Brainerd  Presbyterian  Church, 
of  Easton. 

Rev.  Mr.  Fulmer  was  born  in  Durham,  Bucks  County,  Pennsylvania,  and 
educated  at  Princeton  College  and  Seminary.  This  is  his  first  parish.  He 
graduated  at  the  Theological  Seminary  in  May,  A.  D.  1892.- 

An  account  of  the  history  of  this  parish  will  be  found  in  Rev.  Dr.  Thos. 
Murphy's  "  Presbytery  of  the  Log  College,  "  pp.  208-219.  A  pleasant  notice  of 
Rev.  James  Read  Eckard,  D.  D.,  who  died  at  his  son's  house,  is  there  given. 


218  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

He  had  been  a  missionary  in  Ceylon,  pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church,  Washington,  and  Professor  in  Lafayette  College.  In  old  age  "  sweetly 
falling  asleep  in  Jesus,  he  was  instantly  carried  above. " 

The  Philadelphia  Times,  March  3d,  1892,  notes  the  following  facts  : 
Some  of  the  roads  in  Abington  Township,  Montgomery  County,  date  back 
to  the  early  colonial  days.  York  Road  extends  through  the  township  a 
distance  of  two  or  three  miles.  It  was  laid  out  in  1711  by  a  commission 
appointed  by  Governor  Gookin  and  Council.  The  road  was  one  of  the  earliest 
thoroughfares  between  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  says  the  Doylestown  Intelli- 
gencer. It  commences  at  the  intersection  of  Fourth  and  Vine  Streets,  Phila- 
delphia, and  was  laid  out  by  the  commissioners  to  Centre  Bridge,  in  Bucks 
County,  on  the  Delaware.  Lime  Kiln  Road  was  established  in  1716.  The  road 
from  Abington  Meeting  to  Byberry  Meeting  was  laid  out  in  1712 ;  the  road 
from  Abington  Meeting  House  to  Germantown,  known  as  Washington  Lane, 
in  1735.  Susquehanna  Street  road,  leading  from  Edge  Hill  to  Willow  Grove, 
was  confirmed  in  1768.  The  Willow  Grove  and  Germantown  plank  road  was 
completed  in  1857  at  a  cost  of  $8,000  a  mile.  The  York  Road  was  constructed 
at  about  the  same  cost  per  mile. 

GLENSIDE. 

The  Philadelphia  Ledger,  September  1st,  1890,  marked  the  following 
improvements  at  this  point : 

Building  enterprise  at  Glenside  on  the  North  Penn  and  vicinity. 

Quite  a  number  of  building  enterprises  are  in  progress  at  Glenside, 
formerly  Abington  Station,  on  the  North  Penn  Railroad  and  vicinity.  Fre- 
quent train  service  and  good  building  sites  are  attracting  city  people  who  are 
in  search  of  comfortable  country  homes.  Here  are  located  some  of  the  most 
attractive  residences  on  the  North  Penn,  and  manj^  other  fine  dwellings  are  in 
contemplation.  Comly  Smith,  son  of  Hutchinson  Smith,  of  Weldon,  is  at  work 
on  a  $5000  house,  in  which  he  intends  residing.  Howard  Fleck,  of  Jenkin- 
town,  is  about  completing  a  fine  stone  residence  near  the  station,  and  ticket 
agent  Stout,  has  purchased  a  lot  of  M.  L.  Kohler  on  which  he  will  erect  a 
residence  for  himself.  The  three  story  hall  being  built  by  Mr.  William 
Wilson  is  under  roof,  and  the  carpenters  are  finishing  the  inside.  It  is  built 
of  dressed  Hatboro  stone,  and  will  cost  about  $8000.  The  first  story  will  be 
used  as  a  general  store  room,  the  second  as  a  public  hall,  and  the  third  for 
lodge  purposes.  The  new  school  house  at  Edge  Hill  is  well  under  way.  It 
will  .be  one  of  the  most  complete  and  costly  buildings  of  the  kind  in  the 
County.  The  contract  price  is  nearly  $8000.  The  old  Abington  Academy, 
which  was  used  many  years  for  school  purposes,  was  sold  a  few  days  ago 
for  $1820  to  Jeremiah  Webster. 

The  new  electric  light  plant,  located  between  Glenside  and  Jenkintown, 
will  be  ready  to  commence  operations  about  the  middle  of  September.     The 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  219 

Company  is  known  as  the  Jenkintown  Electric  Light  Company.  They  propose 
furnishing  incandescent  light  to  all  persons  desiring  it  within  a  radius  of  five 
miles  or  more.  Already  their  wires  reach  as  far  as  Bethayres,  Ogontz,  Chelten 
Hills,  Glenside  and  Jenkintown.  The  Company  is  capitalized  at  $40,000. 
The  large  Corliss  engine  and  huge  boilers  are  in  place  and  the  dynamos  will 
be  in  position  in  a  few  days. 

MORELAND. 

Wm.  J.  Buck  describes  this  township  in  Bean's  History  of  Montgomery 
County.  Hatboro  bounds  it  on  the  north.  The  borough  was  taken  from  it 
in  1871.  The  hills  around  Willow  Grove  and  Huntingdon  Valley  give  beauty 
to  this  section,  and  the  last  named  place  on  Second  Street  pike  is  growing. 

Marine  remains  and  black  lead  and  sandstone  are  some  of  the  geological 
characteristics  of  this  section. 

Willow  Grove  lies  at  the  junction  of  the  Doylestown  and  York  Roads 
"  thirteen  miles  north  of  Philadelphia.  "  It  has  two  hotels  and  two  stores,  a 
"  post-office,  several  manufacturing  establishments  and  mechanic  shops,  and  a 
railroad  station."  In  1787  David  Gumming  had  a  store  at  Willow  Grove,  as 
the  assessment  shows. 

"  The  highest  eminence  for  some  distance  around  rises  to  the  east  of  the 
village.  " 

The  stream  here  was  known  as  "  Round  Meadow  Run  "  in  1722,  when  a 
bridge  was  built.  James  Dubree  bought  200  acres  here  in  1719,  and  another 
Dubree  purchased  100  acres,  and  they  settled  at  this  point.  James  in  1742 
willed  his  property  to  his  son. 

In  1768  John  Paul  advertised  his  tavern,  "  Sign  of  the  Wagon, "  for 
sale,  and  102  acres.  The  stable  could  hold  nearly  100  horses.  This  hotel, 
called  the  Red  Lion,  which  Paul's  advertisement  claimed  to  be  by  public 
opinion  "  the  best  between  Rising  Sun  (Nicetown)  and  Coryell's  Ferry  (New 
Hope),  with  three  roads  passing  by, "  was  in  the  hands  of  Joseph  Butler  in 
the  Revolution,  and,  in  1786,  William  Heaton  was  the  landlord  ;  and  Israel 
Michener  held  that  position  from  1804  to  1822 ;  while  Jacob  E.  Buck  was 
the  proprietor  from  1842  to  1868  when  it  ceased  to  be  a  public  house. 

The  large  stables  showed  much  travel  before  the  Revolution.  Reading 
Howell's  Township  Map  of  Pennsylvania  gives  the  name  of  the  place  in  1792. 

James  Mease's  "  Picture  of  Philadelphia, "  a  book  issued  in  1811,  thus 
describes  Willow  Grove : 

"  At  Rex's  tavern  you  can  be  well  entertained  ;  here  is  also  a  fine  spring 
highly  impregnated  with  iron,  and  a  spacious  bath  house,  supplied  with 
mineral  water  for  the  accommodation  of  visitors.  " 

Philadelphians  came  here  as  a  summer  resort,  and  it  is  yet  so  used. 
George  Rex,  Sr.,  removed  here  from  Germantown  before  1792  ;  and  after  1803, 
"  established  the  Mineral  Spring  Hotel,  afterwards  so  long  kept  by  George 
Rex,  his  nephew,  to  whom  he  had  bequeathed  the  property.  " 


220  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Israel  Michener  was  the  Post-Master  in  1816. 

In  1839,  the  fii'st  school  house  was  erected.  George  Rex,  Sr.,  presented  a 
lialf  acre  lot  for  this  purpose.  "  A  fine  two  story  stone  building  now  occupies 
the  site  of  the  public  school.  In  1851  five  daily  lines  of  stages  passed  through 
here  to  Philadelphia,  from  Easton,  Doylestown,  Lambertville  and  Hartsville. 
After  the  opening  of  the  railroad  in  December,  1872,  a  creamery  was  built 
here  by  an  association  of  farmers,  and  phosphate  works  erected,  which  are 
now  conducted  on  an  extensive  scale  by  William  C.  Newport  &  Co.  " 

William  Penn  gave  Moreland  Township  its  name  to  honor  "  Nicholas 
More,  a  physician  of  London,  President  of  the  Free  Society  of  Traders,  and  the 
first  chief  justice  of  Pennsylvania,  who  arrived  here  in  1682.  More  is  a  word 
of  Celtic  origin,  signifying  great.  " 

In  1682,  nine  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifteen  acres  were  granted  to 
the  London  physician,  and  in  1684  the  deed  was  given.  Holme's  map  shows 
a  strip  between  More's  tract  and  the  line  of  Bucks  County,  which  belonged  to 
Joel  Jelson,  Thos.  Lloyd  and  Thos.  Fairman,  and  contained  "  about  fourteen 
hundred  acres.  "  Excepting  this  the  purchase  CQvered  Moreland  in  Philadel- 
phia County,  until  Montgomery  County  was  organized  in  1784,  "  when  much 
the  larger  portion  was  taken  into  the  latter  County.  " 

Nicholas  More  and  his  successors  were  to  pay  the  proprietary  and  his  suc- 
cessors every  year  "  a  silver  English  shilling  for  every  hundred  acres  as  quit- 
rent.  " 

In  1685  More  began  his  buildings  on  the  eastern  portion  of  his  tract  near 
Somerton,  in  Philadelphia.  The  mansion  house  was  "  the  first  settlement  in 
Moreland ;''  its  owner  called  it  Green  Spring.  When  in  1685  the  boundary  of 
Philadelphia  and  Bucks  County  was  determined  the  County  Line  Road  along 
this  township  was  "  a  dense  forest,  and  they  were  compelled  to  mark  the 
course  on  the  trees.  " 

Thomas  Longstroth,  as  Wm.  J.  Buck  states,  in  writing  on  Moreland 
township,  Montgomery  County,  erected  a  paper  mill  on  the  Pennypack  Creek 
about  1794.  In  1795  Samuel  D.  Ingham,  being  in  his  16th  year,  served  as  an 
apprentice  here.  In  a  neighboring  school-house  Mr.  Adrian  had  a  winter 
night  school,  where  the  lad  studied  diligently  to  his  great  benefit.  When  he 
was  twenty  Mr.  Longstroth  released  him,  and  he  became  foreman  in  a  paper 
mill  near  Bloomfield,  New  Jersey.  In  1812,  Bucks  County  elected  him  to 
Congress,  and  he  held  the  post  most  of  the  time  until  1829.  General  Jackson 
then  became  President,  and  made  Mr.  Ingham  his  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
and  he  held  the  office  two  years. 

The  mill  was  burned  when  Thomas  Longstroth  and  his  brother  John 
owned  it;  Joseph  McDowell,  of  Philadelphia  conducted  this  mill  afterward 
for  many  years.  He  enlarged  it,  and  "  the  most  improved  machinery  "  was 
in  use,  but  in  1858  it  was  again  burned.  Its  ruins  stand  by  the  side  of  the 
Newtown  Railway  amid  picturesque  and  wild  scenery  among  the  rocks,  and 
a  station  commemorates  the  paper  mill  history. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  221 

Rev.  Joshua  Potts  lived  in  what  had  been  the  residence  of  "  Joseph  B. 
Yerkes  near  the  York  Road,  below  Hatboro,  which  he  built  in  1759,  and 
which  is  still  standing,  containing  a  stone  with  his  name  and  the  date.  He 
owned  here  at  the  time  several  hundred  acres.  He  was  the  first  pastor  of  the 
Southampton  Baptist  Church,  built  in  1746,  and  in  which  he  officiated  till 
the  time  of  his  death,  which  happened  June  18,  1761,  at  the  age  of  forty-six 
years.     He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Hatboro  Library  in  1755." 

"John  Gummere,  son  of  Samuel,  was  born  at  Willow  Grove  in  1783. 
He  commenced  his  career  as  school  teacher  at  Horsham,  and  taught 
successively  at  Rancocas  and  Burlington,  N.  J.,  Westtown  and  Haverford,  Pa. 
With  his  son,  Samuel  J.  Gummere,  he  resumed  the  Boarding  School  at 
Burlington,  N.  J.  His  work  on  surveying  was  first  published  in  1814,  and 
went  through  fourteen  editions  before  being  stereotyped.  His  '  Elementary 
Treatise  on  Astronomy '  was  first  published  in  1822,  and  the  sixth  edition  in 
1854.  He  died  in  1845.  Samuel  R.  Gummere,  brother  of  the  aforesaid,  was 
also  born  at  Willow  Grove  in  1789.  He  was  the  principal,  for  a  number  of 
years,  of  a  popular  Boarding  School  for  Girls  at  Burlington,  author  of  the 
'  Progressive  Spelling  Book,'  '  Compendium  of  Elocution,'  and  a  '  Treatise  on 
Geography.' " 

The  Montgomery  County  Society  for  Recovering  Stolen  Horses  meets 
annually  at  Willow  Grove.  It  dates  from  1799.  In  1856  Joshua  Y.  Jones 
was  President  and  T.  Ellwood  Comly,  Secretary,  and  William  Hallowell, 
Treasurer. 

In  1840  the  Turnpike  from  Willow  Grove  to  Doylestown  was  finished. 

In  1859  John  Warner,  a  supervisor,  stated  that  there  were  "  95  township 
bridges  "  in  Moreland.     This  shows  an  abundance  of  streams. 

WILLOW  GROVE. 

About  1732  a  tavern  was  built  at  the  junction  of  Old  York  Road  and 
Governor's  Road  called  Red  Lion.  The  landlord,  a  prominent  opposer  to  the 
British,  whose  name  was  Butler,  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  British  light 
horsemen,  and  carried  to  Philadelphia,  in  February,  1777.  In  a  "  Summer 
Jaunt  in  1773  "  edited  by  Rev.  Dr.  George  Morgan  Hills,  (Pa.  Mag.  of  Hist. 
Vol.  X,  p.  205),  the  traveller  spends  a  night  at  Paul's  Hotel,  and  gets  a  pretty 
good  breakfast.  The  sign  is  the  Wagon  in  1768.  This  was  at  the  intersection 
of  Old  York  Road  and  Easton  Road,  near  what  is  now  the  village  of  Willow 
Grove. 

There  is  a  note  to  the  "  Summer  Jaunt,"  which  states  that  John  Paul 
owned  the  inn  in  1768.  "  Later  it  was  called  the  Red  Lion,  and  was  con- 
sidered the  '  best  hostelry  between  the  Rising  Sun  and  Coryell's  Ferry.' " 

New  Hope  and  Lambertville  both  bore  the  name  Coryell's  Ferry,  as  the 
Ferry  united  them. 

Willow  Grove  was  in  old  times  called  Round  Meadow.  (Buck's  Hist,  of 
Moreland.     Memoirs  of  Hist.  Soc.  of  Pa.,  Vol.  6,  p.  202.) 


222  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

The  Funk  farm,  near  Willow  Grove,  lately  passed  from  the  family. 
Jacob  Funk  was  a  Mennonite  preacher  in  old  time.  (Cassel's  Mennonites,  pp. 
108,  109,  339,  340.) 

WILLOW  GROVE  M.  E.  CHURCH. 

Rev.  W.  C.  Graff  sent  me  the  following  note  when  he  was  doing  faithful 
work  for  the  Blessed  Master  at  Willow  Grove.  Since  the  death  of  this  devoted 
servant  of  Christ,  a  leading  layman  in  the  parish,  Geo.  W.  Quigley  has  added 
the  succeeding  sketch. 

"  Willow  Grove  Church  is  a  new  enterprise.  We  meet  at  present  in 
Creamery  Hall.  For  several  months  previous  to  my  appointment  local 
preachers  of  Philadelphia  ministered  to  these  people.  I  took  hold  of  the 
charge  March  24th,  1889.  We  have  41  members  and  100  Sunday  School 
scholars.  We  have  purchased  two  lots  well  located  on  the  main  pike  in  the 
village.  These  lots  worth  $600.00  cost  us  $500.00.  We  expect  to  build  a 
church  costing  about  $4000.00.  The  prospect  for  Methodism  here  is  bright. 
Willow  Grove  has  no  other  denomination  worshiping  here.  The  village  is 
a  pretty  one,  about  15  miles  from  Philadelphia  amidst  a  rich  farming  land." 

W.  C.  Graff, 
Pastor-in-  Charge. 

Rev.  Lewis  Shellhorn,  the  present  pastor,  succeeded  Rev.  W.  C.  Graff. 
The  first  shovelful  of  cellar  dirt  was  dug  by  Brother  Graff  on  Sept.  9th,  1891. 

The  corner  stone  was  laid  by  Presiding  Elder  Samuel  W.  Thomas, 
assisted  by  Rev.  W.  C.  Graff  and  other  ministers,  on  October  3rd,  1891. 

The  church  was  dedicated  by  Rev.  Bishop  C.  D.  Foss,  on  the  Sabbath, 
March  6th,  1892. 

The  gifts  were  made  in  the  main  by  the  people  in  the  vicinity ;  in  their 
poverty  they  poured  out  the  treasure  into  the  Lord's  treasury.  A  subscription 
by  Mrs.  W.  H.  Kemble  of  $500  (which  we  are  yet  to  receive)  is  the  largest 
amount  subscribed.  This  will  be  paid  after  we  have  complied  with  certain 
conditions. 

The  following  gifts  are  noteworthy :  A  handsome  pulpit  Bible  from 
Zeigler  Bros.,  of  Philadelphia,  in  memory  of  their  deceased  father;  a 
beautiful  silver  communion  service  from  Mrs.  John  J.  Zeigler,  of  Ardmore, 
Pa.,  in  memory  of  her  mother ;  also  a  fine  embroidered  communion  cloth 
by  the  daughter  of  Mrs.  Zeigler  in  memory  of  her  little  girl,  recently  deceased. 

WM.  J.  BUCK'S  WRITINGS. 

William  J.  Buck  furnished  a  number  of  most  interesting  articles  to  the 
Hatboro  Public  Spirit,  under  editorship  of  Dr.  W.  T.  Robinson. 

The  Reminiscences  of  William  Homer,  Sampson's  Hill  and  its  legend 
of  the  Indian  who  died  in  a  snow-storm  and  was  said  to  haunt  the  neighbor- 
hood, and  direct  future  snow-storms,  make  interesting  topics,  while  country 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  223 

incidents  in  various  articles  are  dwelt  on  with  the  love  of  rustic  life  which 
belonged  to  Irving  or  Cooper.  Round  Meadow  at  Willow  Grove,  and  its 
blackbirds,  and  the  Hatboro  Railway,  and  Horseheaven  Hill,  near  Willow 
Grove,  the  country  school,  the  rural  funeral,  the  husking  of  corn  and 
threshing  with  a  flail,  and  a  Friend's  wedding,  alike  employed  this  facile  pen. 
An  account  of  the  library  of  the  veteran  collector,  Abraham  H.  Cassel,  near 
Harleysville,  Montgomery  County,  Pa.,  is  interesting.  The  Hallowell  family 
with  its  traditions  and  John  F.  Watson,  and  James  Gordon  Bennett  and  his 
son,  who,  when  a  boy,  tarried  a  while  at  Willow  Grove  Inn,  receive  due  notice. 

Prof.  John  Fries  Frazer,  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  Watson 
Comly,  and  Viscount  Louis  de  Fleury,  a  Revolutionary  captain  under 
Armand  Marquis  de  la  Rouarie,  have  sketches  assigned  to  them,  while  the 
country  birds  are  treated  of  at  various  times  by  this  writer  who  can  see 
objects  worthy  of  thought  in  the  animal  world,  and  the  tree-frog  and  snake 
are  not  forgotten. 

Pennsylvania  local  travels  were  also  noted  by  Mr.  Buck  in  the  Doylestown 
Democrat.     One  article  treats  of  "  The  German  Population  in  Bucks  County." 

A  scrap  book  containing  these  pleasant  sketches  is  entitled  "  The  Local 
Historians."     The  Hatboro  Spirit  articles  appeared  from  1880  to  1882. 

The  Ridgway  Library,  of  Philadelphia,  owns  this  valuable  volume.  This 
quarto  is  marked  10,393,  Q.  Any  love¥  of  Pennsylvania  history  should 
examine  it.  I  am  informed  that  Mr.  Buck  has  thought  of  putting  his  local 
sketches  into  a  volume,  and  hope  sincerely  that  he  may  do  so,  for  few  have 
done  so  much  to  illustrate  the  history  of  Eastern  Pennsylvania. 

There  is  another  copy  of  "  The  Local  Historian  "  in  a  Scrap  Book  in  the 
Hatboro  Library. 

See  Numbers  xlvii  and  xlviii  for  a  part  of  the  information  here  given. 

In  1760  between  eight  and  nine  thousand  wagons  were  required  to  trans- 
port the  products  of  Pennsylvania  to  market,  and  hence  there  was  great  need 
of  inns.  (Wm.  J.  Buck,  in  Bean's  History  of  Montgomery  County,  page  345.) 
Mr.  Buck  thinks  that  two-thirds  or  three-quarters  of  these  wagons  passed 
through  Montgomery  County. 

Farmers  used  to  take  beds  along,  and  sleep  on  the  inn  floor.  A  hundred 
of  them  would  lie  down  at  the  Red  Lion  Inn,  at  Willow  Grove. 

Parties  of  people  were  sometimes  storm-stayed  in  the  snow,  and  found 
much  merriment  in  their  imprisonment.  Whittier's  poem  "  Snow  Bound  " 
shows  how  New  England  winters  brought  such  enforced  confinement  in  one's 
dwelling. 

SAMPSON'S  HILL. 

This  hill  as  Mr.  Buck  describes  it,  is  not  a  high  one,  but  for  generations 
it  has  been  "  a  familiar  household  word.  "  The  Old  York  Road  passes  over 
its  greatest  altitude,  about  a  half  mile  north  of  Willow  Grove.     The  pike  runs 


224  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

along  it  about  half  a  mile.  The  primeval  forest  has  mostly  given  place  to 
well  cultured  farms.  Its  summit  affords  a  fine  view  of  Hatboro,  and  Lacy's 
battle-ground  and  the  Neshaminy  hills,  and  Pennypack  Valley,  and  the  pict- 
uresque scenery  of  Huckleberry  Hill.  The  farm  houses  and  growing  crops 
give  a  pleasant  picture  of  country  life  to  the  dweller  in  the  city  who  comes 
hither  for  refreshment. 

Before  1720,  Sampson  Davis  owned  land  here,  running  to  the  road  and 
bridge.  He  was  a  native  of  Wales,  and  built  a  cabin  where  the  Water  Cure 
stands,  not  far  from  a  "  fine  spring  of  water.  "  Sir  Wm.  Keith  occasionally 
visited  him.  He  belonged,  with  his  wife,  to  the  Abington  Monthly  Meeting 
of  Friends.     The  hill  took  its  name  from  him. 

In  1805,  a  writer  in  Miner's  Correspondent  had  suggested  the  grading  of 
this  hill,  passed  by  stages  from  Philadelphia  to  New  York,  and  Easton,  and  the 
increasing  travel  from  New  Jersey.  In  1850  the  Hatboro  and  Warminster 
Turnpike  Company  made  a  stone  road  "  from  Willow  Grove  to  the  Street 
Road,  a  distance  of  four  and  a  half  miles,  on  the  bed  of  the  Old  York  Road, 
20  feet  wide  and  12  inches  in  depth. " 

The  old  hill  was  necessarily  shorn  of  some  of  its  height  and  beauty  by 
this  improvement,  and  what  Indians  were  content  to  roam  over,  white  men 
excavated.  Poor  mother  earth  suffers  much  from  her  children,  who  often 
scratch  her  face.  A  man  disinclined  perhaps  to  toil,  once  said  that  the  earth 
was  his  mother  and  he  would  not  scratch  her  face  by  digging,  but  poetry 
must  give  place  to  utility.  The  good-natured  hill,  however,  yielded  enough 
stone  from  its  cutting  to  construct  several  miles  of  road,  distributing  its  bless- 
ings for  a  long  distance,  as  the  perfumed  tree  which  gives  a  pleasant  odor  to 
the  axe  which  fells  it.  One  blast  sent  a  rock  weighing  nearly  a  ton  into  a 
field,  and  a  stone  weighing  about  four  hundred  pounds  landed  "  in  the 
branches  of  a  large  cherry  tree  where  it  hung  suspended  for  five  or  six 
years  some  twenty  feet  above  the  road  surface,  much  to  the  astonishment  of 
travellers.  " 

The  bridge  was  formerly  a  wooden  one,  *'  but  in  1830  the  County  erected 
a  substantial  stone  structure  of  one  arch  of  fifteen  feet  span,  which  was  com- 
pleted the  following  year.  " 

There  are  a  "  number  of  fine  springs  of  purest  water  "  here  which  cross 
the  pike,  but  the  largest  one  in  this  section  is  "  about  one  hundred  yards 
southeast  of  the  bridge.  It  is  sufficiently  strong  to  furnish  an  unfailing  supply 
to  a  village.  The  stream  after  a  mile's  journey  mingles  its  waters  with  the 
Pennypack." 

"  A  venerable  looking  milestone  stood  as  late  as  1850  on  the  eastern  bank 
of  the  road-side,  about  forty  yards  up  the  hill  from  the  present  bridge,  having 
cut  on  it,  '  15  M.  to  P. '  It  came  away  in  making  the  turnpike  and  it  is  a  pity 
that  it  cannot  be  restored  to  near  the  same  place.  Most  probably  it  may  have 
done  duty  here  for  all  of  a  century." 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  225 

In  1777,  on  August  the  23d,  Washington  and  his  army,  with  baggage  and 
artillery  train  crossed  Sampson's  Hill.  They  had  broken  camp  near  Cross 
Roads  where  Hartsville  has  arisen,  6  miles  above  this  point,  where  for  two 
weeks  they  had  awaited  tidings  as  to  the  expected  landing  of  the  British.  They 
now  marched  toward  Philadelphia,  whence  they  proceeded  and  met  the 
enemy  on  the  Brandywine. 

ROUND   MEADOW. 

This  Mr.  Buck  gives  as  the  name  of  a  stream  through  Willow  Grove  with 
an  adjoining  swamp.  The  early  settlers  gave  the  name.  The  stream  propels 
Benjamin  Morgan's  grist  mill,  which  was  "  built  by  Thomas  Parry,  in  1731.  " 
The  large  swamp  has  been  reduced  by  improvement  "  to  less  than  20  acres.  " 
It  touches  the  old  Plank  Road,  and  its  peat  and  indigenous  cranberries  are 
worthy. of  notice.  Many  beautiful  wild  flowers  attract  young  ladies  to  gather 
them  and  city  houses  are  ornamented  by  them.  The  rare  "star-nosed  mole" 
frequents  the  spot,  and  muskrats  have  built  their  "  neat  and  highly  ingen- 
ious cabins  "  in  this  swamp,  while  snipe  and  woodcock,  and  blackbirds  claim 
a  right  to  their  ancestral  grounds,  though  man  tries  to  dispossess  them. 

Penn,  in  1684,  bought  of  the  Indian  chief  Metamicont  the  lands  on  the 
Pennypack,  including  this  section,  Nicholas  More's  tract,  obtained  from 
Penn,  ran  across  Round  Meadow.  In  1696  Captain  Thomas  Holme  sold  a 
part  of  the  original  extensive  Round  Meadow  to  John  Hallowell,  of  Darby, 
and  he  "  built  a  house  or  cave  "  on  it,  a  mile  to  the  southwest  of  Willow  Grove. 
He  held  600  acres,  and  has  many  descendants  "  in  the  neighborhood. " 

Old  York  Road  ran  through  this  swamp.  A  bridge  was  thrown  over  the 
stream.  The  road  wound  circuitously  through  Willow  Grove  because  the 
ground  was  miry,  and  a  solid  way  was  sought,  hence  the  name  Round  Meadow, 
from  going  round. 

A  son  of  James  Dubree,  after  the  Revolution,  built  a  dam  above  the 
bridge,  and  had  a  race  to  drive  a  scythe-factory,  which  race  may  still  be  seen. 

The  Cheltenham  and  Willow  Grove  Turnpike  Company  was  chartered  in 
1803.  It  used  much  stone  to  make  a  solid  road  about  Round  Meadow  bridge. 
Rails  used  to  be  stood  on  end  to  warn  travellers  of  miry  points  before  the  pike 
was  made. 

"  The  Germantown  and  Willow  Grove  Plank  Road  and  Turnpike  was 
laid  out  and  made  in  1856-57,  and  commenced  on  the  Old  York  Road,  a  few 
yards  above  the  Round  Meadow  bridge,  crossing  the  Moreland  and  Abington 
line  nearly  at  right  angles.  " 

Newport's  Phosphate  Factory  is  somewhat  on  the  Round  Meadow. 

.  HORSEHEAVEN. 

This  is  a  high  point  near  Willow  Grove,  on  the  York  Road.     The  forest 
yet  lingers  on  its  sides  to  the  north  and  east,  while  red  cedar  clothes  a  part  of 
15 


226  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

its  summit  with  its  constant  green  mantle.  A  strip  of  cultivated  land  divides 
it.  He  who  climbs  this  hill  is  repaid  by  a  view  of  historic  Valley  Forge,  and 
ancient  Gerraantown,  while  Trenton  and  Whitemarsh  bring  up  Revolutionary 
times  also.  The  Jersey  hills  stretch  their  blue  lines  for  many  a  mile,  while 
Buckingham  Mountain  divides  his  high  honors  with  them.  The  hills  on  the 
Delaware,  Schuylkill  and  Neshaminy,  and  Edge  Hill,  Camp  Hill,  Church 
Hill  and  Huckleberry  Hill  claim  attention,  while  "  Frankford,  Chestnut  Hill, 
Barren  Hill,  Flourtown,  Jenkintown  and  Hatboro  "  must  not  be  forgotten  as 
under  the  eye  of  the  beholder. 

The  silver  streak  of  the  Delaware  river  with  its  steamers  and  sailing  boats 
may  be  seen. 

When  stage  lines  passed  here.  Willow  Grove  was  a  stopping  place  where 
horses  were  changed.  Dead  horses  were  buried  on  this  hill,  and  hence  it  was 
styled  Horseheaven. 

The  hill  has  fine  springs  which  feed  "  several  fountains  "  in  Willow  Grove. 
The  springs  run  into  Round  Meadow  Run,  which  flows  into  the  Pennypack, 
and  also  originate  Tearwood  Run,  a  branch  of  the  Pennypack.  Sandy  Run,  a 
tributary  of  the  Wissahickon,  is  a  trout  stream  which  owes  its  existence  to 
springs  on  the  southern  side  of  this  hill,  and  so  the  waters  of  the  hill  "  flow 
into  both  the  Delaware  and  Schuylkill,  as  it  is  a  kind  of  dividing  ridge.  " 

In  1840  and  1841  Ferdinand  Hassler,  the  Superintendent  of  the  United 
States  Coast  Survey  camped  here  with  his  assistants.  The  signal  station  com- 
municated with  like  "  ones  at  Mount  Holly  and  Woodbury  N.  J.,  Langhorne, 
Girard  College  and  one  or  two  in  Delaware  County. " 

The  late  "  Henry  D.  Rogers,  afterwards  Professor  of  Natural  History  in 
the  University  of  Glasgow,"  in  the  geological  survey  of  the  State  in  the 
summer  of  1851,  made  his  investigations  of  this  hill  and  the  neighboring 
country.  In  the  first  volume  of  his  work  may  be  seen  a  sectional  view  of  its 
structure  and  stratification. 

Near  Round  Meadow  Run  are  mineral  springs,  which  indicate  iron  ore, 
which  is  abundantly  obtained  about  a  mile  to  the  westward.  The  squirrel, 
rabbit,  opossum,  robin,  jay  and  other  birds,  as  well  as  the  crow,  own  this  hill 
in  spite  of  human  intruders  with  their  title  deeds.  They  have  an  inalienable 
right  from  the  Heavenly  Father  and  Creator,  who  opens  his  hand  and  fills  all 
living  things  "  with  good, "  Psalm  104,  28. 

The  botanist  can  find  a  large  variety  of  trees  and  shrubs  on  this  hill. 

"  The  laurel  in  June  is  seen  whitened  over  with  its  magnificent  flowers. " 
Here  is  the  mountain  mint  or  dittamy  of  which  people  made  tea  in  ancient 
days,  "  spicy  wintergreen  or  teaberry  also  grows  here.  "  "  The  mountain 
spikenard  luxuriates  amidst  the  crevices  of  the  rocks. "  As  my  friend  Mr. 
Buck,  whom  I  follow  in  describing  this  region,  enumerates  many  more  of  the 
natural  productions  of  his  favorite  hill,  one  can  see  the  poetic  spirit  shining 
out  in  his  prose ;  and  if  every  neighborhood  had  such  a  chronicler  it  would 
become  illustrious. 


HATBORO  SOLDIERS'  MONUMENT. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  229 

As  he  claims,  domestic  scenery  should  fire  our  minds,  as  well  as  European 
landscapes,  he  calls  forth  the  Indian  and  the  Swede,  the  Dutch  and  the  Irish 
and  Welsh  of  Gwynedd  and  Germans  of  Germantown,  and  the  Scotchman, 
Sir  Wm.  Keith,  and  the  English  Quakers,  and  the  Revolutionary  heroes  to 
show  that  Pennsylvania  does  not  lack  historic  interest. 

Such  a  hill  in  summer  heat,  or  the  budding  spring  time,  with  its  blossoms 
and  leaves,  and  in  the  autumn  glory,  filled  his  mind  with  many  pleasant 
thoughts,  and  every  reflective  mind  should  thus  learn  lessons  from  the  book 
of  Nature  ever  spread  open  before  him. 

David  Newport  is  an  eminent  minister  among  the  Friends,  and  a  pleas- 
ing poet,  who  is  well  noticed  in  the  biographies.  He  resides  near  Willow 
Grove,  on  a  fine  and  well  kept  farm. 

ASHLAND  FARM. 

This  pleasant  estate  lies  just  below  Hatboro. 

A  fine  wide  lane,  bordered  with  an  avenue  of  noble  trees,  leads  to  the 
mansion,  as  at  Trevose,  the  old  Growden  place,  near  Hulmeville,  owned  by 
Charles  Taylor. 

The  building  is  an  ample  structure  of  stone,  in  the  simple  architecture  of 
the  earlier  dwellings  of  Eastern  Pennsylvania. 

The  furniture  within  is  of  the  dignified  old  fashioned  style  which  gives 
an  interesting  character  to  rooms. 

This  residence  among  the  rolling  hills  was  the  property  of  the  late  Judge 
William  Yerkes.     It  came  into  the  possession  of  his  father  Joseph  B.  Yerkes. 

Nathaniel  B.  Boileau  was  the  next  previous  owner.  He  also  owned  a  farm 
above  this  place.     For  reference  to  him  see  (Watson's  Annals,  Vol.  2,  p.  450.) 

Joshua  Potts,  and  his  wife  Anna,  owned  this  farm  in  A.  D.  1759,  the  date 
which  is  on  the  lower  part  of  the  house,  while  the  upper  part  contains  the 
date  1750. 

In  old  time  the  farm  is  said  to  have  been  owned  by  that  great  capitalist 
of  provincial  Pennsylvania,  Chief  Justice  William  Allen,  whose  country 
place  was  at  Mount  Airy.  He  is  reported  to  have  been  the  richest  man  in 
the  province  in  his  day. 

Judge  Yerkes  was  a  Major  in  the  Northern  Army  in  the  Confederate  war. 

There  is  an  abundance  of  wainscoting  in  the  old  mansion,  which  always 
gives  a  solid  appearance,  and  character  to  a  building.  There  are  also  fire- 
places which  are  a  pleasant  reminder  of  times  when  coal  and  what  the  Phila- 
delphia Ledger  has  well  called  ''  cooked  air  "  were  unknown. 

The  sitting-room  boasts  a  noble  yellow  pine  board  which  has  held  its 
place  for  generations.     The  heavy  window  sash  are  also  marks  of  antiquity. 

Mrs.  Yerkes,  the  widow  of  the  Judge  and  his  son  William  H.  Yerkes, 
with  another  son  and  a  daughter,  resided  in  the  ancestral  house  at  my  visit. 


230  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Directly  opposite  is  a  factory  built  of  brick,  which  shows  that  business 
penetrates  the  country  districts. 

A  quaint  neat  toll-gate  house  is  just  below  the  Ashland  farm  house,  on 
the  same  side.  It  was  kept  for  some  time  by  Mr.  Lukens  Wakefield,  and  his 
widow  still  conducts  it,  with  her  son  and  his  family. 

In  approaching  Hatboro  in  riding  from  Jenkintown,  before  reaching  the 
Loller  Academy,  at  the  lower  border  of  the  town,  the  comfortable  and 
substantial  residence  of  the  Clotworthy  family  is  seen  on  the  left  side  of  the 
road.     It  was  the  residence  of  Mrs.  Bates  who  died  lately. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  way  is  the  cosy  farm  house  of  Mr.  John 
Mayne. 

HATBORO. 

Byberry  Avenue  is  the  finest  avenue  of  residences  in  Hatboro. 

Samuel  J.  Garner,  Real  Estate  Agent  and  Conveyancei;,  has  a  pleasant 
and  ample  gray-stone  mansion  on  the  south  side  of  this  street. 

Dr.  P.  H.  Markley,  a  practising  physician,  has  next  below  this  a  dwelling 
of  modern  architecture  of  stone  and  red  shingles,  giving  a  very  pretty  effect. 

Mr.  Paul  Jones,  Teller  in  Hatboro  National  Bank,  owns  the  pretty  frame 
and  shingle  house  next  below  colored  yellow.     It  is  a  tasteful  abode. 

Dr.  C.  0.  Dager,  the  dentist  of  the  borough,  is  finishing  a  handsome 
residence  of  frame  with  a  remarkably  attractive  piazza  in  front. 

Byberry  Avenue  runs  to  the  end  of  the  borough  limits  where  it  merges 
into  Byberry  Road.  The  well  built  up  portion  is  from  Depot  Street  to  York 
Street. 

Albert  French  has  a  neat  brick  house,  finished  within  in  hard  wood, 
making  a  cosy  residence. 

Mr.  James  Van  Horn,  Cashier  of  the  National  Bank,  owns  and  occupies 
the  next  residence,  being  a  frame  house  of  good  dimensions,  adorned  with  a 
piazza,  and  built  in  cottage  style.  The  roof  is  lighted  by  dormer  windows, 
making  a  third  story. 

The  house  of  Mr.  John  B.  Jones  is  next  to  Mr.  Van  Horn's,  as  one  walks 
toward  York  Street  which  is  the  name  which  the  Old  York  Road  bears  at 
this  point,  as  Broadway  holds  its  name  from  New  York  to  Albany,  and  is  so 
known  in  passing  through  Tarrytown. 

The  house  of  Mr.  Jones  is  of  brick,  rough  cast,  of  a  drab  color,  with  the 
outer  woodwork  tastefully  painted.  This  place  was  purchased  two  years  ago 
by  Mr.  Jones,  of  C.  H.  Millar,  who  had  bought  it  of  Harvey  Terry,  now  in 
North  Carolina.  The  present  owner  has  enlarged  the  piazza  and  improved 
it  otherwise. 

The  yards  of  all  these  residences  are  large  and  nicely  kept,  and  add 
much  to  the  beauty  of  the  avenue.  Sometimes  a  niggardly  spirit  destroys  a 
new  and  growing  town  by  a  false  economy  in  the  use  of  land. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  231 

The  influence  of  Samuel  J.  Garner  appears  to  have  cauged  this  desirable 
end  to  be  accomplished. 

Opposite  Mr.  Jones  resides  Timothy  Ely,  brother  of  Ex-Sheriff  Ely,  of 
Newtown,  Bucks  County. 

Messrs.  Chas.  Trimmer  and  Hugh  Carroll  have  neat  cottages  on  the  same 
side  of  the  street  as  Mr.  Ely  nearer  to  Depot  Street. 

The  Hon.  J.  Newton  Evans,  M.  D.,  has  a  very  fine  residence  of  stone, 
Avith  piazzas  and  bay  windcfWs  and  a  dormer  roof  and  a  tower  next  below 
the  Soldiers'  Monument.  A  reception  was  held  here  by  President  Harrison 
at  the  time  of  the  Log  College  Anniversary.  The  building  stands  high,  and 
the  terraces  and  trees  give  a  pleasing  effect. 

Dr.  Evans  came  from  Chester  County.  He  was  a  member  of  Congress 
for  two  terms,  representing  the  Republican  party.  He  is  the  President  of  the 
National  Bank,  and  has  held  the  office  from  its  foundation  in  1872.  He  also 
deals  in  real  estate  and  is  a  well  known  business  man  in  the  community  and 
neighborhood. 

Mr.  John  B.  Jones  acted  as  stage  driver  on  the  Old  York  Road  in  the 
Swift  Sure  Mail  Line  in  1849,  under  the  ownership  of  Jacob  Peters,  of  Phila- 
delphia,  who  owned  the  White  Swan  Hotel  at  Race  Street,  above  3d,  from 
which  various  stage  lines  departed,  but  the  Swift  Sure  Line  started  from 
Barley  Sheaf  in  2d  Street,  below  Vine,  until  the  fire  of  1850  destroyed  that 
section,  when  the  point  of  departure  was  moved  to  the  White  Swan  Hotel. 
There  were  then  three  mails  a  week ;  now  there  are  three  a  day.  Mr,  Jones 
drove  from  Philadelphia  to  Flemington,  N.  J.,  forty-six  miles.  At  that  point 
connection  was  made  with  a  stage  which  ran  sixteen  miles  to  Somer- 
ville,  N.  J.,  to  connect  with  the  Jersey  Central  R.  R.;  afterward  the  railway 
was  prolonged  to  White  House,  nine  miles  from  Flemington.  Mr.  Jones 
drove  this  route  for  several  jears,  from  Willow  Grove  northward  all  being 
mud  road.  Sometimes  the  passengers  would  have  to  get  out  and  assist  in 
lifting  the  wheels  out  of  the  mud.  The  run  was  made  in  one  day  to 
Flemington  returning  the  next  day.  Flemington  was  left  at  5  o'clock  A.  M. 
summer  and  winter  from  Hart's  Hotel,  opposite  the  Court  House,  breakfasting 
and  changing  horses  at  Lambertville,  at  Amos  Moore's  Hotel.  Horses  were 
also  changed  at  Hatboro.  At  first  they  were  changed  at  Willow  Grove  and 
Bushington,  but  not  at  Hatboro.  Andrew  Yerkes  owned  the  line  before  Mr. 
Jones  was  employed.  Four  horses  were  driven  from  Philadelphia  to  Lambert- 
ville, and  from  Lambertville  to  Flemington  ;  in  easier  roads  two  horses. 

At  the  first  coming  of  Mr.  Jones,  Vandegrift's  Hotel,  called  the  Upper 
Hotel,  but  now  the  Rail  Road  House  kept  by  Collamore  &  Munch,  was  the 
changing  point,  but  he  transferred  it  to  the  Lower  Hotel,  kept  by  Jacob 
Walton.  He  purchased  the  house  in  1861,  having  rented  the  upper  house 
for  two  years  previous.  Mr.  Jones  bought  the  Swift  Sure  line,  but  ceased 
to  drive  on  it,  though  after  the  opening  of  the  North  East  Pennsylvania 
Rail  Road  in  1872,  it  ran  from  Hatboro,  where  the  Rail  Road  then  ended,  to 


232  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Centre ville  for  a  time.  About  two  years  ago  the  railway  was  extended  from 
Breadyville  to  New  Hope.  In  1891  Mr.  Jones  sold  the  hotel  to  Harry  Wilson 
who  now  keeps  it,  and  still  calls  it  the  Jones  House  in  honor  of  its  former 
host.  This  may  meet  the  eyes  of  some  old  stage  travellers  who  will  recall 
pleasant  rides  with  a  careful  and  attentive  driver.  I  am  indebted  to  Mr. 
Jones  for  good  information.  The  echo  of  the  old  stage  horn  still  rings  in  the 
memory  around  these  hills. 

In  travelling  by  railway  above  Glenside,  at  present,  farms  and  light  woods 
diversify  the  landscape  until  Hillside  is  reached,  and  the  Willow  Grove  Pike, 
or  Old  Plank  Road,  as  it  was  called  when  planks  were  on  it,  is  again  crossed, 
circumbendibus  has  brought  the  steam  and  carriage  ways  together  again, 
like  two  friends  loath  to  part,  and  making  a  last  embrace. 

At  Rubicam  Station  the  Old  York  Road  is  again  passed,  and  an  ancient 
family  name  once  well  known  in  Philadelphia  and  Germantown  is  com- 
memorated. 

Willow  Grove,  the  summer  resort  of  elder  and  of  present  times,  with  its 
shady  surroundings,  is  the  next  station.     Here  was  an  ancient  inn. 

Heaton  and  Fulmor  perpetuate  local  family  names,  as  is  proper. 

Bonair  Station  is  passed. 

Johnsville  Station  is  the  point  where  Mr.  Craven  built  a  store  for  his  son 
John,  thus  giving  the  name  to  the  village. 

Hartsville,  Southamptonville,  Davisville  and  Churchville  are  not  far 
distant,  so  the  country  has  many  "  villes." 

Ivyland  was  long  the  terminus  of  the  North  East  Pennsylvania  Rail 
Road,  and  is  the  station  for  Hartsville,  which  lies  at  a  little  distance  from  the 
railway. 

Jacob  Reading  was  long  the  postmaster  of  Hatboro  who  awaited  in  stage 
times  the  warning  bugle.  Elijah  Van  Horn  now  has  the  post-office  in  con- 
nection with  the  drug  store  which  is  a  fine  building  owned  by  Dr.  W.  T. 
Robinson. 

Samuel  S.  Thompson  on  the  York  Road  at  the  upper  toll-gate  has  a 
beautiful  cottage  with  a  remarkably  fine  and  well  kept  lawn  of  large  extent. 

In  addition  to  my  own  observations,  I  wish  to  note  the  beautiful  illus- 
trated pamphlet  of  Major  Jonathan  T.  Rorer  on  Hatboro,  similar  to  one  on 
Oak  Lane  and  another  issued  by  the  Board  of  Trade  on  Coatesville. 

This  booklet  gives  street  views  and  residences,  including  besides  those 
named,  the  house  of  Hon.  Arthur  D.  Markley,  in  Northampton  Street.  Jona- 
than T.  Rorer  resides  in  a  very  ancient  house  which  belonged  to  the 
heirs  of  Bartholomew  Longstreth  who  married  John  Dawson's  daughter.  (See 
Watson's  Annals,  Vol.  2,  p.  99.)  Ann  Dawson  assisted  her  father  in  handling 
the  stone  and  mortar  with  which  he  built  the  house  which  succeeded  his 
first  cabin. 

Comly  Walton's  residence  on  Moreland  Avenue,  Dr.  J.  B.  Carrell's  on 
York  Street,  Dr.  Thomas  Reading's  on  the  same  avenue  (now  undergoing 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  233 

neat  improvements),  the  National  Bank,  Union  Library,  Lolier  Academy, 
John  Van  Pelt's  store,  the  Jones  Hotel,  the  M.  E.  Church,  the  Borough 
Council  Hall  and  Fire  Department,  and  the  Soldiers'  Monument  are  pictured 
in  the  illustrations.  An  electric  light  plant  is  noted  and  the  macadamizing 
of  streets. 

The  following  extract  is  from  the  Philadelphia  Press,  May  4th,  A.  D.  1889 : 

OBITUARY. 

Dr.  Edward  Reading,  one  of  the  most  prominent  homoepathic  physicians 
of  Montgomery  County,  died  this  morning  of  a  complication  of  diseases,  after 
an  illness  of  about  a  week.  Dr.  Reading  was  born  in  Somerton,  about  sixty 
years  ago  and  graduated  at  the  Hahnemann  Medical  College  in  1853.  He 
settled  in  Hatboro  about  thirty  years  ago.  He  was  a  prominent  member  of 
the  Hatboro  Methodist  Church  and  a  charter  member  and  the  first  worship- 
ful master  of  the  William  K.  Bray  Lodge,  Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  of  this 
town.  A  wdfe  and  three  children  survive  him,  Mrs.  T.  E.  Paxson  and  Drs.  L. 
W.  and  Thomas  Reading. 

THE  HATBORO  BAPTIST  CHURCH,  jBY  REV.  OWEN  JAMES. 

This  church  was  organized  on  ]the  8th  day  of  September,  1835,  with 
twenty-two  members.  These  did  not  come  as  a  colony  from  any  other  church 
but  were  nearly  all  converted  in  a  revival  meeting  held  in  the  open  air  in  a 
grove  near  Hatboro.  The  clergymen  conducting  this  meeting  were  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Central  Union  Association  of  Baptist  Churches  and  came  to 
Hatboro  at  the  urgent  solicitation  of  Mr.  Joseph  B.  and  Mrs.  Hannah  Yerkes, 
the  parents  of  the  late  Judge  W.  H.  Yerkes  of  Philadelphia. 

For  nearly  five  years  the  services  of  the  church  were  held  in  Lolier  Hall 
at  the  lower  end  of  the  village.  On  the  19tli  of  April,  1838,  nearly  two  acres 
of  ground  were  purchased  from  William  Rhodes  for  $300.  The  deed  was  made 
in  the  names  of  Joseph  B.  Yerkes,  John  Whitehead,  Andrew  Yerkes  and 
Harman  Yerkes.  On  the  5th  day  of  September,  1839,  the  corner  stone  of  the 
first  meeting  house  was  laid  by  the  venerable  Daniel  Dodge.  The  structure 
was  humble  and  plain,  measuring  40  feet  square  and  was  one  story  high. 
The  builder  was  Joseph  B.  Yerkes  a  man  who  always  put  brain  and  con- 
science in  all  his  work.  The  building  was  dedicated  on  the  16th  of  January, 
1840 ;  the  Rev.  J.  M.  Challis  conducting  the  services. 

This  house  was  enlarged  in  1856.  It  was  made  larger  by  twenty-four 
feet,  a  second  story  was  put  on  and  a  tower,  steeple  and  bell  were  added.  The 
Rev.  George  Hand  was  pastor  at  the  time.  The  work  began  in  the  spring  of 
1856,  and  the  enlarged  house  was  opened  on  the  22d  of  May,  1857. 

In  1884,  during  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  J.  Blanchard  Hutchinson,  the 
structure  was  still  further  enlarged  by  the  erection  of  commodious  robing- 
rooms  in  the  rear.     At  the  same  time  a  greatly  improved  Baptistery  was  put 


234  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

in,  the  house  thoroughly  refurnished,  and  the  walls  beautifully  frescoed.  The 
entire  cost  was  $2,200  all  secured  and  paid  at  once. 

In  1844  the  first  parsonage  was  built.  This  is  in  the  rear  of  the  church 
edifice  and  is  now  used  for  a  sexton's  residence.  In  1851  a  lot  consisting  of  a 
little  more  than  two  acres  of  land  adjoining  the  church  property  was  pur- 
chased for  $800  from  Mr.  Israel  Moore,  an  old  colored  man  who  had  lived  on 
it  time  out  of  mind.  On  this  lot,  in  the  year  1868,  the  present  large,  commo- 
dious and  elegant  parsonage  was  built  at  a  total  cost  of  $4,500.  The  Rev.  I.  C. 
Wynn,  D.  D.,  was  its  first  occupant. 

The  church  has  had  thirteen  pastors.  Rev.  Wm.  P.  Maul,  from  1835  to 
1838;  Rev.  J.  P.  Walters  from  1838  to  1840;  Rev.  Matthew  Semple  for  one 
year ;  Rev.  A.  H.  Taylor  from  1841  to  1843 ;  Rev.  J.  J.  Baker  from  1843 
to  1845;  Rev.  Samuel  J.  Creswell  for  one  year;  Rev.  Lewis  Smith  from 
1846  to  1852 ;  Rev.  George  Hand  from  1852  to  1861 ;  Rev.  Thomas  R. 
Taylor  who  died  after  a  prosperous  pastorate  of  nine  months ;  Rev.  W.  S. 
Wood  from  1863  to  1867 ;  Rev.  Isaac  C.  Wynn,  D.  D.,  from  1867  to  1870 ; 
Rev.  George  Bowman  from  -1870  to  1878 ;  Rev.  J.  B.  Hutchinson  from  1878 
to  1886 ;  and  Rev.  Owen  James  the  present  pastor  who  was  settled  here  July 
1st,  1887.  My  predecessors  were  all  able,  faithful  and  devoted  men.  The  one 
of  them  who  attained  the  greatest  prominence  was  Dr.  I.  C.  Wynn,  whose 
recent  death  is  so  deeply  mourned  by  all  who  knew  him.  He  was  a  man  of 
strong,  pointed  and  graspful  intellect.  His  simple,  clinging,  trustful  faith  in 
God  and  in  man ;  his  strong,  burning,  planning,  working  and  wise  enthusiasm 
for  God  and  for  humanity ;  his  entire  self-obliviousness ;  his  constant  consid- 
erateness,  mindfulness  and  toil  in  behalf  of  others,  brought  him  into  constant 
requisition  as  speaker  and  manager  in  connection  with  all  the  institutions  of 
his  denomination  and  made  him  an  immense  power  for  harmony  and  energy 
wherever  he  was.  He  left  Hatboro  in  1870  and  was,  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  on  Saturday,  April  20,  1889,  the  beloved  and  successful  pastor  of  the 
First  Baptist  Church  of  Camden,  N.  J. 

In  A.  D.  1889,  the  Rev.  Mr.  James  wrote,  in  addition  to  this  sketch,  that 
the  following  persons  were  the  church  officers  :  Trustees,  Levi  Walton,  Lewis 
Walton,  J.  H.  Kelly,  Wm.  Valentine  and  John  Roab ;  Deacons,  Charles  Rorer, 
E.  S.  Ritchie,  C.  C.  McNair,  E.  S.  Walton  and  Albert  French  ;  Treasurer,  S.  M. 
Hazlett ;  Church  Clerk,  E.  S.  Walton. 

I  will  add  that  Rev.  T.  P.  Price  succeeded  Rev.  Owen  James  within  the 
past  year.  The  Rev.  George  Hand,  once  in  charge  of  the  Loller  Academy, 
and  a  Young  Ladies'  Seminary  in  Hatboro,  is  a  member  of  this  parish. 

EPISCOPAL  SERVICES. 

Sir  Wm.  Keith  mentions  a  lay-reader  at  Horsham  (township).  Pa.,  where 
this  provincial  Lieutenant  Governor  purposed  to  build  a  church,  as  his  home, 
Graeme  Park,  was  in  Horsham.     He  begs  the  Society  to  allow  the  Rev.  Mr. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  235 

Harrison,  who  had  been  at  Hopewell  and  Maidenhead,  N.  J.,  to  take  up  the 
work,  but  I  suppose  the  church  was  never  erected ;  a  service  at  Hatboro  now 
conducted  let  us  hope  may  bring  the  result  which  this  nobleman  desired  in 
1723. 

Rev.  Mr.  James  P.  Fugette  conducted  services  in  the  Odd  Fellows  Hall 
several  years  ago,  and  of  late  Rev.  Mr.  Duganne  and  others  have  carried  on 
the  work.  At  present  Rev.  Johnson  Hubbell  resides  in  the  town  and  holds 
divine  service  in  a  building  on  York  Avenue. 

Hatboro  is  said  to  have  been  named  from  John  Dawson's  hat  factory 
before  the  Revolution,  but  the  village  had  also  the  name  of ''The  Billet,"  or 
"  The  Crooked  Billet  "  from  the  tavern,  which  was  Dawson's  house.  Perhaps 
the  Crooked  Billet  on  King  Street,  Philadelphia,  suggested  the  name,  if  it  was 
not  imported  from  England.  King  Street  was  Water  Street.  (See  Willis  P. 
Hazard's  3rd  volume  continuing  Watson's  Annals,  page  348.) 

Wm.  J.  Buck  has  described  this  place  in  Bean's  History  of  Montgomery 
County,  pp.  721,  729,  and  we  will  here  make  an  abstract  of  the  work  of  this  vet- 
eran local  historian,  who  woke  our  interest  in  such  things  in  his  account  of 
Graeme  Park.  He  has  a  farm  near  this  borough,  and  is  well  acquainted  with 
the  history  and  legends  of  this  long-settled  part  of  Eastern  Pennsylvania. 

The  borough  dates  from  1871,  a  little  before  the  opening  of  the  railroad, 
and  about  600  acres  were  taken  from  Moreland  Township  to  form  it.  It  is  a 
mile  and  a  half  long  from  north  to  south.  It  is  three-quarters  of  a  mile  in  its 
greatest  breadth,  and  runs  along  the  line  of  Bucks  County  nearly  half  of  that 
distance.  It  lies  mainly  on  York  Road,  in  modern  parlance  York  Avenue, 
which  was  opened  from  Philadelphia  to  Centre  Bridge  in  1711. 

"  The  Hatboro  and  Warminster  Turnpike  was  completed  in  1850,  and 
extends  from  the  Willow  Grove  to  the  Street  Road,  a  distance  of  four  and  a 
half  miles. " 

The  North  East  Pennsylvania  Rail  Road  runs  through  this  town  ;  it 
branches  from  the  North  Pennsylvania  Rail  Road  at  Abington,  and  runs  to 
Ivyland  which  is  the  depot  of  Hartsville,  being  near  that  village.  The  rail- 
way is  nearly  ten  miles  long.  It  was  begun  in  1872  and  extended  to  Ivyland 
in  1875.  Hatboro  is  16  miles  from  Philadelphia  by  railwa}'.  Fulmor  Station 
is  in  the  borough.  Since  the  above  was  written  the  railway  has  been  extended 
to  New  Hope. 

There  are  two  hotels  in  this  borough,  and  two  drug  stores  and  a  shoe  store 
as  well  as  a  jewelry  and  clothing,  and  a  hardware  store,  and  two  confectionery 
establishments  and  a  furniture  store  "  and  three  general  stores.  "  There  are 
two  carriage  factories  and  two  blacksmith  shops,  a  wheelwright  and  two  tin 
shops,  two  bakers,  a  machine  shop,  and  "  two  merchant  flour  mills,  one  livery 
stable,  one  lumber  and  two  coal  yards. "     In  1880  the  population  was  586. 

The  library  had  its  foundation  in  1755,  and  has  10,000  volumes. 

The  Academy  was  erected  in  1811-12  by  means  of. a  bequest  of  Judge 
Loller.     The  public  schools  are  held  here. 


236  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

There  is  a  National  Bank,  Hon.  I.  N.  Evans,  President,  and  James  Van 
Horn,  Cashier. 

There  are  three  public  halls.  The  Loller  Lodge  of  Odd  Fellows  owns  a 
good  stone  building  three  stories  high,  which  makes  a  good  appearance  on 
York  Road.  This  Order  has  also  an  excellent  stone  hall  at  Huntingdon 
Valley,  a  few  miles  distant.  The  Hatboro  Lodge  Building  was  erected  in 
1851. 

"  The  W.  K.  Bray  Lodge  of  Masons  met  in  Jones'  Hall.  The  Patriotic 
Sons  of  America  also  possess  an  organization.  " 

It  is  said  that  the  place  owes  its  name  to  "  one  of  the  first  stone  houses 
built  here,  which  was  about  1705,  and  in  which,  shortly  after,  John  Dawson 
followed  for  many  years  his  occupation  of  making  hats.  The  English  hatter 
left  a  mark  in  his  name  lasting  longer  than  the  name  placed  in  hats  denoting 
the  maker.  This  building  likewise  became  a  tavern,  and  had  for  its  sign  a 
crooked  billet,  suggested  by  a  popular  inn  then  kept  in  Water  Street, 
Philadelphia.  It  stood  near  the  center  of  the  present  town,  on  the  Old  York 
Road,  where  is  now  the  dwelling  house  of  Oliver  Watson,  and  into  which,  on 
being  modernized,  a  portion  was  incorporated.  "  John  Dawson  lived  here  in 
1734,  and  a  Daniel  Dawson  was  also  a  resident  of  the  place.  "  Lewis  Evans's 
map  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  adjoining  provinces,  published  in  1749  "  calls 
the  place  "  Hatboro.  "  "  Franklin's  Pennsylvania  Gazette  of  October  12,  1752,  " 
styles  it  '^  Crooked  Billet.  "  The  records  of  the  library  in  1755  use  "  Hatbor- 
ough, "  though  the  meetings  are  named  as  held  at  the  house  of  "  David  Reese, 
at  ye  Crooked  Billet.  "  This  was  an  English  name  for  inns,  probably  imported 
to  this  country.  Nicholas  Scull's  map  of  Pennsylvania,  in  1759  calls  the 
place  "  Billet, "  as  does  William  Scull's  map  1770.  Washington,  writing  to 
Congress  in  1777  names  the  "  Billet  tavern.  "  General  Lacy,  1778  gives 
the  place  the  name  "Crooked  Billet,"  as  do  Majors  Simcoe  and  Stedman, 
who  were  British  officers  in  the  skirmish  here.  Reading  Howell,  in  his  town- 
ship map  of  1792  calls  it '  Hatborough, '  and  also  Joseph  Scott,  in  his  Gazetteer 
of  1795.  "  Mr.  Buck  concludes  that  Hatboro  was  the  name  of  the  village,  and 
Billet,  or  Crooked  Billet  of  the  tavern. 

In  1720  a  road  from  Byberry  to  Horsham  was  laid  out  through  the 
center  of  Hatboro.  The  part  east  of  York  Avenue  is  Byberry  Avenue,  and 
that  west  is  Moreland  Avenue.  "  The  County  Line  Road,  leading  from  the 
present  toll-gate  to  Graeme  Park,  was  laid  out  in  1722. "  There  must  have 
been  some  settlement  to  require  a  road  additional  to  the  York  Road. 

David  Reese  kept  the  tavern  in  1759.  His  daughter  Rebecca  married 
"John  Hart,  of  Warminster."  In  1761  Jacob  Tomkins  kept  a  store;  the  next 
year  the  library  was  moved  to  his  house,  and  he  was  librarian  for  some  time. 
He  had  a  farm.  In  1786  William  Todd  bought  "  Tomkins' share  in  the 
library.  "  In  1784  Abraham  Duffield  had  a  public  house  "  in  the  lower  part 
of  the  village.  "  The  library  was  here  for  some  time,  John  J.  Marple  owned 
and  kept  this  inn  "  at  least  from  1814  to  1825.     He  was  post-master  in  1816. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  237 

This  office  is  stated  to  have  been  established  here  about  1809,  chiefly  through 
the  exertions  of  the  Hon.  N.  B.  Boileau. "  Mr.  Marple's  property  covered 
"  sixty-one  acres  of  land.  In  1813  the  polling  places  of  Moreland  and  Horsham 
were  removed  here  from  Abington,  and  continued  until  after  1828.  These 
were  at  the  stand  now  known  as  Jones'  Hotel.  " 

Colonel  John  Lacy  was  a  Bucks  Countian,  who  became  a  Brigadier 
General  in  1778,  and  who  commanded  "  the  militia  between  the  rivers  Schuyl- 
kill and  Delaware.  He  was  at  Warwick,  and  Graeme  Park,  and  the  Cross 
Roads,  now  called  Hartsville,  and  then  at  Hatboro,  where  his  camp  was  ''  on 
the  Byberry  Road,  about  half  a  mile  east  of  the  village.  "  His  force  of  about 
450  men  "  were  poorly  supplied  wath  arms  and  ammunition,  suffering  at  times 
severely  for  provisions,  and  often  onl}'  two  daj's'  allowance  in  camp. "  On 
"  May  1st,  1778  a  detachment  of  the  British  army  from  Philadelphia,  com- 
posed chiefly  of  American  loyalists,  under  command  of  Lieutenant  Colonel 
Abercrombie  and  Major  Simcoe,  made  a  sudden  attack  on  the  camp,  in  which 
about  thirty  Americans  were  killed  and  seventeen  wounded.  The  British  loss 
was  trifling, — some  six  or  seven  men  were  wounded,  five  horses  found  dead 
and  three  captured.  During  the  skirmish  some  of  the  wounded  were  either 
conveyed  to,  or  sought  shelter  in  a  heap  of  buckwheat  straw  to  which  the 
enemy  set  fire,  and  the  wounded  men  perished  in  the  greatest  agony.  The 
British  soon  after  hastily  retreated  to  the  city,  when  the  dead  were  collected 
and  placed  in  one  grave  on  the  north  side  of  the  County  Line  Road,  near 
what  has  been  long  known  as  Wood's  Corner.  A  handsome  white  marble 
monument,  twenty  feet  high,  was  erected  on  the  east  side  of  York  Avenue,  on 
an  elevated  site,  by  the  citizens  of  the  neighborhood  in  1861,  in  commemo- 
ration of  those  who  lost  their  lives  in  this  attack.  "  This  site  is  a  fine  one  and 
the  monument  draws  the  attention  of  the  traveller.  (See  Bean's  History  of 
Montgomery  County,  page  116.) 

There  were  early  mills  on  the  Pennypack  Creek  here.  Nicholas  Scull's 
map  gives  Dungworth's  "  beside  the  York  Road  in  1759. "  In  1787  Mordecai 
Thomas  owned  it.  He  had  a  farm.  In  1808  he  had  a  mill  built  for  carding 
wool. 

Hatboro  has  been  celebrated  for  carriage  building.  In  1807  John  Paxson 
had  a  coach  shop  and  a  harness  shop  here. 

In  1814  a  company  volunteered  here  to  aid  the  country  in  the  English 
war.   Alexander  McClean  was  captain,  and  Thomas  L.  Boileau  first  lieutenant. 

In  Revolutionary  times  Hatboro  is  said  to  have  had  "about  eighteen 
houses,  one-half  of  which  were  built  of  logs,  a  tavern,  store,  a  mill  and  a  black- 
smith shop.  "  Scott's  Gazetteer  in  1795  gives  it  "  about  20  houses  and  a  library 
of  a  thousand  volumes.  " 

On  the  Byberry  Road  near  the  town  was  a  little  stone  school  house, 
thought  to  have  been  built  about  1730.  N.  B.  Boileau  went  to  school  here. 
A  new  school  house  was  built  on  Isaac  Pickering's  place  on  the  County  Line. 

In  1789  the  Pennypack  bridge  over  the  Pennypack  Creek  at  Hatborough 


238  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

was  rebuilt  of  stone.  George  Kenderdine  told  Mr.  Buck  that  it  had  a  semi- 
circular arch  "  of  twenty-four  feet  span,  "  and  was  thought  "  a  marvel  of  work- 
manship. "   Stephen  Love  was  the  master  mason.    (See  Local  Historian  xliii.) 

In  1830  James  M.  Porter,  Samuel  Hart  and  John  H.  Hill  were  appointed 
to  lay  out  the  York  Road  to  Willow  Grove.  The  road  was  straightened,  and 
a  new  bridge  built  a  little  further  down  the  creek  than  the  old  one. 

The  Literary  Chronicle  was  published  weekly  in  Hatboro  by  Oliver  I. 
Search  in  1840,  in  a  building  which  joined  the  upper  hotel.  In  1842  it  was 
removed  to  Newtown.  In  1873  Dr.  William  T.  Robinson  began  to  issue  the 
Public  Spirit  which  is  still  published,  and  is  well  known  in  the  vicinity. 

The  Literary  Chronicle  shows  that  in  1841  Lukens  Wakefield  and  David 
Titus  were  coach  and  house  painters ;  and  Abraham  Haslett  was  'smith  and 
Hiram  Reading,  store  keeper ;  Charles  Wakefield,  tailor ;  G.  W.  Gilbert,  wheel- 
wright ;  H.  N.  Smith,  shoemaker,  and  O.  I.  Search,  job  printer  in  Hatboro. 

THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH. 

The  first  church  built  here  was  the  Methodist  Episcopal.  The  corner- 
stone was  laid  in  1836,  when  the  Rev.  David  Bartine  preached  the  sermon.  The 
church  was  dedicated  in  1837.  It  was  a  stone  building.  Joseph  and  Deborah 
Lehman  built  the  parsonage,  and  gave  it  to  the  congregation.  The  church 
cost  $2,700,  and  the  parsonage,  $2,100.  Mr.  Lehman  died  in  1845,  aged  81 
years,  and  his  wife  Deborah  died  in  1841  at  the  age  of  74.  A  large  stone 
beside  the  church,  covers  the  bodies  of  this  faithful  pair  who  served  God  with 
the  property  He  had  given  them.  May  they  have  many  to  imitate  their  good 
examples. 

In  1879  the  church  was  rebuilt  in  Gothic  style,  and  a  steeple  added.  The 
property  covers  about  an  acre  and  a  half,  which  "  is  neatly  inclosed  and  well 
shaded.  The  building  and  grounds  are  kept  in  neat  order  and  are  an  orna- 
ment to  the  town.  It  is  called  Lehman  Chapel. "  In  1883  Rev.  M.  A.  Day 
succeeded  Rev.  Peter  Cox  in  this  charge.  Rev.  Pennell  Coombe  once  held 
this  parish  in  connection  with  Fair  View  church  situated  on  a  high  hill  com- 
manding a  beautiful  view,  on  the  road  from  Huntingdon  Valley  to  the  York 
Road. 

"  On  the  tombstones  in  the  graveyard  are  found  the  names  of  Wood, 
Murray,  Wilson,  Bisbing,  Eisenbrej^,  Meyers,  Moore,  Kenderline,  Sutch,  Wake- 
field, Cline,  Mottershead,  Stewart,  Benninghoff,  Arnold,  Fisher,  Coar,  Chilcott, 
Tudor,  Emerson,  Perry,  King,  Bower,  Fesmire,  Torpin,  Bush,  Sisty,  Beans, 
Goentner,  Maxwell,  Christopher  and  McDowell.  " 

While  a  vault  contains  the  remains  of  Mr.  Lehman  and  his  family,  his 
portrait  is  in  the  parsonage,  and  the  face  indicates  a  strong  character.  He 
was  an  Episcopalian,  and  seeing  the  struggle  of  a  handful  of  brave  men  for 
Christ's  work  in  their  little  meetings  of  prayer,  he  aided  them.  His  wife  was 
a  Friend.     The  parish  has  a  fund  left  by  Mr.  Lehman. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  239 

Rev.  J.  M.  Wheeler  is  the  present  pastor,  to  whom  I  aiii  indebted  for  infor- 
mation as  to  the  clergy  since  Mr.  Buck's  account.  Rev.  Ravil  Smith  preceded 
Mr.  Wheeler,  and  Rev.  E.  E.  Burris  held  the  charge  before  Mr.  Smith 
assumed  it. 

In  the  Baptist  graveyard,  (according  to  Buck's  notes)  "  are  found  the 
names  of  Fretz,  Bitting,  Martin,  Scott,  Lester,  Sutch,  Yerkes,  Craven,  Lukens, 
Search,  Johnson,  Meredith,  Snyder,  Haslet,  Kimbell,  Vanartsdalen,  Booskirk, 
Rover,  Margerum,  Stockdale,  Robbins,  Lower,  Dean,  Taylor,  Hill,  Beans, 
Ashton,  Swartz,  McNair,  Baine,  Marple,  James,  Hay,  Hobensack,  Evans, 
Morgan,  Humphreys,  Davis,  McDowell,  Mathew  and  Eisenbrey. " 

A  general  cemetery  lies  in  a  pleasant  position  on  the  northern  bank  of 
the  Pennypack,  plainly  visible  from  the  York  Road  and  the  railway.  It  con- 
tains about  21  acres.  In  1882  a  house  was  built  for  the  superintendent,  and 
a  stoiie  chapel  and  gateway.  The  association  was  incorporated  in  1877.  The 
ground  has  a  good  elevation.  The  flowers  and  tombstones  show  that  memory 
is  busy  with  those  that  are  gone,  and  loves  to  place  memorials  to  keep  fresh 
their  recollection.  The  farms  cultivated  once  by  these  quiet  hands  are  now 
spread  out  around  them.  The  surrounding  scenery  is  delightful,  but  as 
Bryant  expresses  it,  in  his  poem  entitled  "  June  "  we  can  say  of  each  sleeper 
here, 

"  Whose  part  in  all  the  pomp  that  fills 
The  circuit  of  the  summer  hills 
Is — that  his  grave  is  green." 

Canon  Hole,  in  his  Sermons  on  the  Lord's  Prayer,  as  given  in  The  Church- 
man, quotes  the  solemn  words  that  befit  a  burial  place : 

"  Earth's  highest  station  ends  in  '  Here  he  lies, ' 
And  '  dust  to  dust '  concludes  her  noblest  song. " 

The  pleasant  earthly  home  must  be  left  for  the  narrow  house  of  the  dead, 
and  happy  indeed  are  those  who  look  for  the  eternal  and  heavenly  home  with 
Christ  in  the  everlasting  mansions. 

Mr.  Buck  names  Huckleberry  Hill,  Edge  Hill,  Sampson's  Hill,  and  Horse- 
heaven  and  the  place  where  Lacy  was  defeated  and  the  Pennypack  Creek  as 
having  "  legendary  and  historical  associations, "  and  being  in  view  from  this 
point. 

In  passing  along  here  I  have  also  been  struck  with  the  picturesque  appear- 
ance of  the  Loller  Academy,  the  mill,  the  bridge  and  the  creek.  The  ample 
grounds  of  the  Academy  are  noteworthy  and  several  objects  worthy  an 
artist's  pencil  are  here  grouped  into  one  view. 

Mr.  Buck  adds  that  Robert  Loller  married  "  Mary,  the  daughter  of  Archi- 
bald McLean  of  Horsham.  "  In  1776  he  was  a  County  deputy  to  "  adopt  a 
new  State  Constitution. "  He  was  in  Washington's  army,  "  in  the  battles  of 
Trenton,  Princeton  and  Germantown. "     He  was  a  Colonel,  and  "  a  member 


240  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

of  the  library  in  1787.  Through  his  bequests  the  Academy  was  built  in 
1811-12  on  his  estate,  and  handsomely  endowed. "  He  is  worthily  remem- 
bered in  the  name  of  the  school.  Polly  Loller's  corner  with  its  striking  allit- 
erative name  keeps  up  the  memory  of  the  family. 

Nathaniel  B.  Boileau  lived  long  in  a  place  adjoining  the  Loller  Academy. 
He  was  born  in  this  neighborhood,  and  was  the  "  son  of  Isaac  Boileau.  He 
was  a  graduate  of  Princeton  College,  a  member  of  the  Assembly,  in  1808 
chosen  Speaker  of  that  body,  and  for  nine  years  Secretary  of  State  to  Governor 
Simon  Snyder.  In  183G  he  was  appointed  register  of  wills  for  the  County.  He 
was  personally  acquainted  with  John  Fitch,  the  steamboat  inventor,  who  was 
a  frequent  visitor  to  his  father's  house.  He  was  also  the  executor  of  Judge 
Loller's  estate,  and  superintended  the  erection  of  the  Academy.  He  died 
March  16,  1850,  in  his  eighty-eighth  year. " 

In  1884  a  pavement  was  "laid  along  each  side  of  York  Avenue"  in 
Hatboro. 

George  Kenderdine  was  "  the  first  Burgess  of  the  town  and  a  resident  of 
a  third  of  a  century.  "  Mr.  Buck  expresses  a  regard  for  his  memory,  and  says 
further,  "  he  was  a  native  of  Horsham,  a  millwright  by  profession  and  an 
ingenious  man,  modest,  unassuming  and  friendly  in  his  intercourse  and  ever 
disposed  for  the  advancement  of  the  general  good.  He  died  February  8, 1883, 
at  the  close  of  a  useful  life.  " 

UNION  LIBRARY. 

This  library  was  founded  when  "  there  could  not  have  been  above  eight 
or  nine  public  libraries  in  the  thirteen  colonies,  of  which  two  had  been  estab- 
lished in  Philadelphia. " 

There  could  not  have  been  more  than  a  dozen  houses  in  Hatboro  when 
the  library  was  started. 

In  1755  a  meeting  "  was  held  on  the  premises  by  the  Rev.  Charles  Beatty, 
Rev.  Joshua  Potts,  John  Lukens  and  Joseph  Hart."  Another  meeting  was 
held  and  the  "  Instrument  of  Partnership  "  adopted.  Mr.  Buck  gives  the  valu- 
able list  of  the  names  of  signers.  There  are  some  noted  families  represented 
in  the  list.     George  the  Second  then  ruled  this  country. 

In  1755  "John  Jarret,  Samuel  Erwin,  and  Joseph  Hart  were  elected 
directors,  Wm.  Loufbourrow,  secretar}',  and  Daniel  Thomas,  treasurer. " 

Rev.  Chas.  Beatty  was  directed  to  send  an  order  for  books  to  London. 
Hon.  Lawrence  Growdon,  John  Lukens  and  John  Ross,  Esq.,  gave  donations 
to  the  funds  of  the  library.  Joseph  Galloway  gave  four  volumes  through 
Joseph  Hart.  Dr.  Thomas  Graeme,  and  his  daughter  Elizabeth,  of  Graeme 
Park,  gave  "a  handsome  donation  of  books."  Hon.  Thomas  Penn  gave 
Du  Hamel's  "Husbandry,"  in  1770.  In  1776  Isaac  Cad wallader,  Daniel 
Longstreth  and  Abraham  Lukens  were  directors,  while  Daniel  Thomas  was 
secretary  and  Jacob  Tomkins  y^SLS  treasurer.     David  Kennedy  "  generously 


16 


12; 
o 
I— I 


o 

o 
w 

H 

w 

ft 
o 

1-:) 

O 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  245 

offered  the  company  the  use  of  a  room  in  his  house  for  one  year, "  which  "  offer 
was  thankfully  accepted. "  John  Fitch  was  a  member  of  the  library  in  1778. 
In  1780  the  library  was  in  Wm.  Wilson's  house,  and  under  his  care.  Mrs. 
Fergusson,  of  Graeme  Park,  gave  fifty  volumes  to  the  library. 

In  1787  an  act  of  incorporation  was  passed.  Nathan  Holt,  of  Horsham, 
died  in  1848,  and  gave  "  most  of  his  property  for  the  benefit  of  the  library 
company.  "  He  had  received  much  benefit  in  using  the  books  of  the  society. 
Thirty-eight  hundred  dollars  of  the  $5,800  bequeathed  by  Mr.  Holt  was  used 
in  the  erection  of  the  neat  stone  building  which  was  finished  in  1849,  and 
which  in  its  quiet  and  classic  beauty  now  adorns  the  Old  York  Road.  Its 
appearance  invites  one  to  quiet  study  and  reflection,  and  here  is  spread  a 
mental  banquet  richer  than  a  bodily  feast. 

John  Sloan,  of  Philadelphia,  was  the  architect  of  the  building,  and  Joseph 
B.  Yerkes  was  appointed  to  superintend  its  construction.  It  stands  on  an  acre 
lot  bought  of  Robert  Radcliff  in  1848  for  $400.  The  books  were  placed  in  the 
new  building  in  1850,  and  the  former  building  "  was  directed  to  be  sold.  "  In 
1855,  Chas.  H.  Hill,  Wm.  J.  Buck  and  David  Newport  were  appointed  a  com- 
mittee concerning  a  commemoration  of  the  centennial  of  the  library  though 
the  plan  was  not  carried  out  by  reason  of  certain  conditions  imposed  on  the 
committee. 

There  are  over  10,000  volumes  in  the  library.  The  directors  at  the  time 
of  Mr.  Buck's  account  were  A.  L.  Philips,  Edward  Reading,  John  B.  Carrell, 
and  Mrs.  Jane  E.  Carr  was  librarian.     She  held  the  post  for  ten  years. 

There  are  rare  works  on  the  shelves  of  this  library  printed  between  "  1593 
and  1730,  and  one  hundred  and  thirteen  volumes  relating  to  the  history  of 
America  printed  before  1800.  "  There  is  also  a  cabinet  of  curiosities.  This  is 
the  oldest  library  in  the  County.  Mr.  Buck  thus  closes :  "  An  institution  of 
this  nature  flourishing  so  long  through  voluntary  efforts  speaks  well  for  the 
intelligence  of  the  neighborhood.  " 

I  will  add  that  the  pamphlet  printed  in  1889  states  that  Wm.  J.  Buck, 
John  Christopher  and  Samuel  Horner  have  donated  Indian  relics.  The  fine 
yard,  with  its  neat  iron  fence  and  the  Grecian  pillared  front  of  the  building 
and  its  nicely  kept  interior  are  a  credit  to  the  town.  E.  P.  Baugh  was  librarian 
from  1874  to  1880.  E.  G.  Erdmann  is  the  present  polite  librarian,  and  his 
wife  assists  him  in  his  good  work. 

LOLLER  ACADEMY. 

In  driving  into  Hatboro  from  Philadelphia,  the  Loller  Academy  greets 
the  stranger  on  entering  the  ancient  borough.  It  may  serve  as  a  useful 
allegory  being  situated  above  the  York  Road  and  approached  by  steps  like 
the  Temple  of  Fame.  The  youth  of  the  neighborhood  for  generations  have 
ascended  these  steps  bodil}'',  and  mentally  have  climbed  the  ascent  of  learning 
within  the  walls.     The  Soldiers'  Monument  at  the  farther  end  of  the  borough, 


246  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

as  the  traveller  moves  on  toward  Willow  Grove  and  Hartsville  is  a  lesson  of 
the  glorious  end  of  life's  struggle.  The  busy  town  lies  between  the  Academy 
where  young  life  begins  its  toil  and  the  grave  where  age  ends  its  task,  and  so 
the  picture  of  human  life  is  complete. 

It  was  a  pleasure  to  watch  the  sports  of  the  children  in  passing  the  old 
school  which  looks  like  the  Academy  buildings  in  New  York  or  New  England, 

Bean's  History  of  Montgomery  County  has  a  good  account  of  this  ancient 
seat  of  learning  which  we  will  condense. 

Robert  LoUer  lived  in  the  house  which  -has  been  the  residence  of  the 
principal  of  the  Academy.  Robert  and  Grace  Loller  were  his  parents.  He 
was  a  school  teacher,  surveyor  and  conveyancer.  He  was  a  colonel  in  the 
Revolutionary  army,  and  was  "  a  member  of  the  library  in  1787,  a  member  of 
Assembly  and  an  Associate  Judge  of  Montgomery  County  for  many  years. 
In  1805  we  find  him  assessed  for  fourteen  acres  of  land,  a  horse  and  a  cow.  " 

He  died  in  Philadelphia,  where  he  had  gone  for  treatment  in  a  painful 
disease,  in  1808,  at  the  age  of  68  years.  His  wife  soon  followed  him  to  the 
grave.  They  left  no  children.  Judge  Loller  made  Hon.  N.  B.  Boileau  executor 
of  his  will  which  provided  for  building  and  endowing  the  Academy.  The 
building  was  begun  under  the  faithful  executor  in  1811,  and  finished  in  1812. 
There  were  nine  trustees  "  to  be  elected  annually  in  December  by  the  patrons 
of  the  schools  held  therein. "  George  Murray  was  the  first  principal.  The 
building  cost  over  eleven  thousand  dollars.  It  was  built  on  "  Judge  Loller's 
estate,  and  within  a  hundred  yards  of  his  residence.  "  It  is  two  stories  high 
and  of  stone,  surmounted  by  a  cupola,  which  draws  the  attention  of  the  passer- 
by. Isaiah  Lukens  made  the  clock  ;  he  was  "  an  ingenious  mechanic  of  Hors- 
ham, but  this  clock  has  been  out  of  repair  now  for  some  time. " 

In  1814  Jared  Schofield  became  the  second  principal  of  the  Academy,  and 
in  1815  Giles  McDowell  succeeded  him.  In  1818  Rev.  Robert  Belville  became 
principal,  and  in  1819  Nathaniel  Furman  took  the  post.  In  1825  Caleb 
Frazier  was  at  the  head  of  the  school.  John  McNair,  Benjamin  Shoemaker, 
"Walter  Hibbs,  Wm.  M.  Hough  and  Hugh  Morrow  followed  in  the  order 
named. 

George  Murray  was  known  to  Mr.  Buck.  He  was  born  in  Scotland,  and 
after  leaving  Hatboro  kept  a  boarding  and  day  school  in  Doylestown,  in  1833, 
and  perhaps  as  late  as  1860.  He  was  a  good  teacher.  His  native  land  was 
shown  by  his  accent.  He  bought  a  farm  near  Doylestown  where  he  died,  not 
many  years  ago,  nearly  a  hundred  years  old. 

John  McNair  married  Captain  John  W.  Yerkes's  sister,  of  Hatboro.  He 
moved  to  Abington  where  he  had  a  Boys'  School  for  boarders  and  day  pupils. 
He  was  at  a  later  time  "  clerk  of  the  courts  of  Montgomery  County,  and  twice 
a  member  of  Congress.  About  1856  he  removed  to  Virginia  and  settled  upon 
a  farm  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  Bull  Run  battle-ground,  where  he 
died  somewhere  about  1862,  or  in  the  midst  of  the  war. " 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  247 

In  1836  the  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania  passed  an  act  establishing  public 
schools,  and  making  each  township  a  school  district.  Moreland  did  not  accept 
the  act,  but  kept  up  the  old  system  in  which  the  parents  paid  the  instructors 
of  their  children,  and  a  taxation  covered  the  expense  of  those  whose  parents 
could  not  afford  to  do  this.  In  1848  the  school  system  ceased  to  be  optional, 
and  was  exteiided  over  the  whole  State.  " 

"  Mr.  Morrow  combined  the  public  school  with  his  own,  which  he  taught 
for  about  six  years,  having  on  his  list  from  80  to  110  pupils,  when  the  former 
was  separated  and  taught  in  another  part  of  the  Academy,  under  the  superin- 
tendence of  Edward  S.  Ritchie.  He  continued  to  conduct  the  private  and 
classical  department  successfully  dowi^  to  his  resignation  in  1865. " 

Hugh  Morrow  was  an  experienced  teacher.  At  sixteen  he  assisted  Rev. 
David  Kirkpatrick  in  the  Milton  Academy.  He  had  taught  in  Alton,  Illinois, 
and  elsewhere.  For  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  he  presided  over  Loller 
Academy,  and  his  many  pupils  had  reason  to  respect  so  good  a  master,  and 
affectionately  remember  him  in  their  widely  scattered  homes.  Army  and 
Navy,  Law  and  Theology  and  Medicine  have  claimed  his  scholars,  who  have 
risen  high  in  these  and  other  pursuits.  In  1871,  when  Hatboro  was  incorpor- 
ated, his  fellow  citizens  elected  Mr.  Morrow  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  he  has 
since  been  made  Burgess  on  two  occasions.  A  teacher  may  well  know  how 
to  guide  men,  as  well  as  boys.  When  Mr.  Buck  paid  this  good  man  his  loving 
and  well  earned  tribute  the  teacher  had  reached  his  77th  year  and  the  account 
of  him  closes  thus :  "  We  are  gratified  to  say  age  appears  to  have  touched  him 
lightly. " 

Such  a  man  had  responded  to  Mary  Howitt's  plea  of  the  children : 

"  Eaise  us  by  your  Christian  knowledge ; 

Consecrate  to  man  our  powers  ; 
Let  us  take  a  proper  station; 
We  the  rising  generation, 

Let  us  stamp  the  age  as  ours ! " 

Many  do  not  appreciate  the  great  usefulness  of  the  teacher.  His  patient 
toil  deserves  high  honor,  and  his  profession  should  be  elevated,  and  teachers' 
houses  should  be  placed  at  their  schools  as  part  of  the  school  property,  as  pro- 
fessors' houses  are  thus  often  owned  by  colleges. 

The  public  schools  are  now  held  in  the  Academy.  At  the  time  of  Mr. 
Buck's  account  A.  R.  Place  was  principal.  He  was  assisted  by  Susan  H. 
Fulmor  in  the  secondary  department,  and  Emma  Mcintosh  in  the  primary. 
Wm.  H.  Walker  had  "been  the  previous  principal."  I  will  add  that  Rev. 
George  Hand  from  1867  to  1870  conducted  the  Academy  as  a  school  for  young 
men  and  boys,  also  maintaining  the  "  Young  Ladies  Institute  "  which  was 
established  in  1854,  This  afterward  became  "  Moreland  Institute  "  for  both 
sexes. 

The  Loller  Academ}^  and  the  Library  have  given  Hatboro  great  literary 
advantage,   and  the  population  has   increased  in   culture  by  these  means. 


248  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Debating  societies  and  lectures  have  been  held  in  the  Academy  to  the  benefit 
of  the  participants.  As  Mr.  Buck  sums  up  these  benefits  he  aptly  closes  by 
saying  :  "  Then  let  the  source  thereof,  Judge  Loller's  bequest,  be  kept  in  grate- 
ful remembrance  as  a  noble  benefaction.  " 

Would  that  there  were  more  Judge  Lollers  in  the  world. 

Rev.  Wm.  Krider  Goentner,  who  gave  the  site  of  the  Soldiers'  Monument 
and  caused  it  to  be  erected,  John  B.  Jones,  and  John  Van  Pelt,  of  Hatboro,  have 
biographical  notices  in  Bean's  History  of  Montgomery  County. 

The  borough  of  Hatboro  is  a  thrifty  and  pleasant  looking  country  town. 
Its  literary  character  is  still  kept  ujj"  by  the  Hatboro  Public  Spirit  which  is 
conducted  in  a  two  story  building  in  the  center  of  the  place  by  Dr.  W.  T. 
Robinson  and  his  son,  E.  0.  C.  Robinson.  The  Doctor  was  for  some  time  the 
physician  in  charge  of  the  Lazaretto.  Mrs.  John  Van  Pelt,  a  cousin  of  George 
Alfred  Townsend,  (Gath),  has  been  a  valuable  writer  in  this  paper. 

HORSHAM  MEETING  HOUSE. 

This  old  place  of  worship  not  far  from  Hatboro,  is  so  near  the  York  Road, 
and  looks  so  interesting  in  its  dignified  and  quiet  simplicity  with  its  "  city  of 
the  dead, "  that  we  cannot  refrain  from  noticing  it. 

W.  J.  Buck,  in  Bean's  History  of  Montgomery  County,  shortly  describes 
Horsham  or  Horshamville  on  the  Doylestown  and  Willow  Grove  Turnpike, 
among  surrounding  farms,  with  its  two  school  houses  and  store  and  "  mechanic 
shops."  Charles  Palmer  was  the  post  master  in  1816.  In  1826  Charles  Jarrett 
held  this  position,  and  the  name  was  "  changed  from  Horsham  Meeting 
House  to  Horsham. "  Here  a  hall  was  erected  in  1855.  There  was  a  library 
in  this  village  for  some  time. 

Horsham  Meeting  House  is  described  in  the  History  of  Montgomery 
County  in  Scott's  Atlas,  in  1877.  Mr,  Buck,  who  wrote  that  sketch,  enlarged 
on  the  subject  in  his  "  Local  Historian, "  in  1882,  in  newspaper  articles  forming 
a  Scrap  Book.  He  further  adds  to  the  valuable  information  in  Bean's  History 
of  Montgomery  County. 

In  1717  Horsham  is  named  in  a  minute  of  Abington  Monthly  Meeting, 
when  John  Michener  and  Thomas  Iredell  were  chosen  overseers,  Samuel 
Smith,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Province, "  gives  1716  as  the  date  of  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Meeting,  "  at  first  only  in  the  winter  season.  " 

Hannah  Carpenter,  who  was  the  widow  of  Samuel  Carpenter,  gave  John 
Cadwallader,  Thomas  Iredel,  Evan  Lloyd  and  Richard  Kenderdine,  in  1719 
in  trust  for  the  use  of  Friends  "  50  acres  of  land  from  his  great  tract,  on  which 
the  meeting  house  was  built  most  probably  in  1721.  "  The  jurors'  report  on 
laying  out  the  Governor's  road  here,  April  23,  1722,  locates  it  by  the  Meeting 
House.  John  Fothergill,  of  England,  mentions  in  his  journal  attending  this 
meeting,  17th  of  Eleventh  Month,  1721-22,  in  company  with  Lawrence  King.  " 


ABINGTON  PRP:SBYTERIAN  CHUKCH,  (See  page  216 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  251 

In  1724  the  members  ask  assistance  for  finishing  the  meeting  house  which 
their  brethren  treat  favorably  in  a  resolution.  Mr.  Buck  thpuks  the  building 
was  of  stone,  and  that  it  stood  until  1803  when  the  present  ample  and  sub- 
stantial building  arose. 

Hannah  Carpenter  was  from  Haverford,  West  South  Wales,  and  her 
maiden  name  was  Hardiman.  She  and  her  husband  were  highly  esteemed 
for  benevolence.  She  died  in  1728,  aged  82.  Her  husband  in  1711  gave 
ground  for  a  meeting  house  and  burying  ground  for  Friends  in  Bristol,  Bucks 
County,  Pennsylvania,  where,  in  1713'  a  meeting  house  was  built  a  year  before 
his  death. 

"  Evan  Lloyd  was  one  of  the  first  ministers  of  this  congregation,  of  which 
also  John  Cadwallader  was  an  elder."  In  1782,  it  was  strong  enough  to 
become  a  Monthly  Meeting  attached  to  Byberry.  It  was  in  after  years  "  again 
attached  to  Abington. " 

In  1753  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette  shows,  by  an  advertisement,  that  the 
Friend's  school  house  had  been  erected,  and  "the  committee,  John  Lukens, 
surveyor,  Abraham  Lukens,  and  Benjamin  Cadwallader  desired  the  services 
of  a  teacher,  very  probably  the  present  stone  school  house,  in  which  Isaac 
Comly,  of  Byberry,  the  author  and  editor  also  taught  in  1799.  " 

The  graveyard  is  very  interesting  containing  those  buried  since  1719.  It 
has  been  enlarged  at  various  times,  and  covers  several  acres,  which  are 
enclosed  by  a  stone  wall  of  substantial  character.  The  following  are  names 
honorably  known  in  the  vicinity  on  tomb-stones  :  Spencer,  Walton,  ECallowell, 
Palmer,  Jarrett,  Lukens,  Longstroth,  Kirk,  Paul,  Cadwallader,  Thomas, 
Iredell,  Comly,  Lloyd,  Wood,  Parry,  Jones,  Kenderdine,  Michener,  Shoemaker 
and  others.  "  Mr.  Buck  adds  a  list  of  personal  friends  with  their  ages,  inter- 
esting to  the  relatives  and  friends  of  the  dead. 

"  A  noble  sassafras  tree  "  here  was  measured  in  1852,  and  16  inches  above 
ground,  had  a  girth  of  13  feet. 

"  The  meeting  house,  as  is  usual  with  Friends,  is  surrounded  by  noble 
shade  trees,  particularly  buttonwood  and  oak,  some  of  the  latter  undoubtedly 
remnants  of  the  ancient  forest.  Here  too,  on  nearly  all  sides,  are  extensive 
sheds  for  the  protection  of  horses  from  the  inclemency  of  the  weather  in  all 
seasons.  It  is  calculated  to  do  one  good  at  the  close  of  the  quiet  Friends' 
worship,  as  we  have  more  than  once  experienced  here,  to  enter  into  a  general 
hand-shaking,  as  is  the  custom,  thus  renewing  friendship  and  reviving  recol- 
lection. " 

Thus  does  Mr.  Buck  end  his  pleasant  description,  which  is  followed  by  a 
learned  and  interesting  account  of  Graeme  Park  and  its  former  owners,  as  this 
park  is  in  Horsham  Township. 

The  following  sketch  was  written  by  the  author  of  this  volume  for  the 
Germantown  Telegraph,  Philadelphia,  May  27,  1885.  Founded  by  Philip  R. 
Freas.  Henry  W.  Raymond,  Editor  and  Proprietor.  H.  C.  Michener  has 
since  become  associated  with  Mr.  Raymond  in  the  editorship : 


252 


THE  YORK  ROAD. 


SIR  WILLIAM  KEITH. 


AN   ACCOUNT   OF   GRAEME   PARK    AND   THE   OLD   KEITH    MANSION. 

In  the  beautiful  undulating  country  which  abounds  in  Eastern  Pennsyl- 
vania, in  the  township  of  Horsham,  on  the  County  Line  Road,  about  three 
miles  above  Hatboro,  lies  Graeme  Park  the  ancient  residence  of  Lieutenant- 
Governor  Keith.  As  I  rode  by  the  antique  mansion  house  with  a  friend,  on 
a  dull  cloudy  day,  it  seemed  to  be  mourning  its  former  grandeur,  and  having 
been  deprived  of  the  outbuildings  which  formerly  surrounded  it,  it  naturally 
looked  a  little  lonesome.  Still  the  property  has  fallen  into  good  hands,  and 
Mr.  Abel  Penrose,  to  whom  it  has  descended  through  his  father,  has  placed  a 
new  roof  on  the  building  and  kept  it  in  fair  repair,  so  that  this  historical 
spirit  has  preserved  one  of  the  most  interesting  relics  in  this  section  of  country. 

We  are  pleasantly  welcomed  at  the  modern  farm  house  near  by,  and 
Mrs.  Penrose  kindly  and  cheerfully  displays  the  mementos  of  former  days. 
Here  is  a  fine  oil  painting  of  Mrs.  Fergusson,  a  descendant  of  Lady  Keith. 
The  picture  was  taken  at  from  three  to  five  years  of  age,  and  when  we  reflect 
that  the  old  lady  died  in  A.  D.  1800,  it  contains  a  striking  lesson  on  the 
passage  of  time.  The  bunch  of  keys  which  guarded  the  stores  of  the  old 
mansion  is  brought  forward ;  they  are  attached  to  a  hook  to  suspend  them  to 
a  girdle,  and  Lady  Keith  may  have  constantly  worn  them,  as  in  her  short 
residence  in  this  place  she  dispensed  her  provisions  to  her  household  slaves. 
Such  work  was  familiar  to  Southern  housekeepers.    An  old  high-backed  chair, 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  253 

having  formerly  contained  a  cushion  embroidered  by  Mrs.  Fergusson,  is  the 
next  object  of  attention,  and  the  remnant  of  the  embroidery  is  an  interesting 
relic.  But  of  much  greater  interest  is  the  bill  of  transfer,  filled  with  special 
items,  which  marks  the  passage  of  the  property  from  the  hands  of  Governor 
Keith  into  those  of  Thomas  Graeme  and  Thomas  Sober  for  the  consideration 
of  £500.  Twice  on  it  is  found  the  large  bold  signature,  "  W.  Keith."  The 
faded,  broken,  yellow  paper  has  an  antiquarian  interest,  but  Mrs.  Penrose  has 
wisely  had  it  copied  on  parchment.  Some  human  goods  are  noted,  as  this 
item  shows:  "A  negro  man  named  William  and  an  Indian  woman  his  wife, 
named  Jane;  a  boy  their  child,  named  W'illiam."  Mercury  and  his  wife 
Diana,  and  Ca3sar  were  among  the  human  chattels.  Let  us  be  thankful  that 
no  such  bills  can  be  drawn  to-day.  Silver  plate  abounded,  even  candlesticks 
and  snuffers  being  made  of  that  precious  metal;  and  one  ornament  was  a 
piece  of  coral  set  in  silver.  In  household  goods  there  were  64  sheets,  50  table- 
cloths, 12  dozen  napkins,  6  dozen  towels,  and  2  dozen  window  curtains,  a 
choice  bed  "  compleat,"  a  yellow  damask  bed,  plaid  beds,  tent  beds,  a  blue 
stuff  bed  and  a  red  and  yellow  bed  and  22  white  Holland  mattresses,  20  pairs 
of  blankets,  2  fine  chintz  quilts.  A  couch  and  squab  with  3  pillows  of  green 
camblet.  A  Rushy  leather  squab,  6  walnut  chairs  with  silk  bottoms,  one  of 
which  we  have  perhaps  just  seen,  and  "  3  dozen  of  Rushy  chairs." 

Inside  the  chimney  of  the  present  farm  house  is  Governor  Keith's  coat  of 
arms  on  a  large  iron  plate,  imbedded  in  the  rear  wall.  It  was  brought  from 
the  mansion  house  and  placed  there  many  years  ago.  The  motto  is 
"  Remember  thy  end."  He  was  created  a  Baronet  in  1663  and  was  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor from  1717  to  1726.  He  certainly  lived  in  state  here,  as  a  few 
more  items  will  show :  "  6  large  folding-tables  of  mahogany  and  black 
walnut,  8  smaller  ditto,  1  mahogany  tea-table,  12  fine  tables  of  different  size, 
3  fine  India  tea-tables,  2  Dutch  ditto,  78  candle-molds,  20  pairs  brass  candle- 
sticks, 2  jacks  with  weights,  12  venison  pots."  On  a  post  of  the  house-yard 
fence  is  an  immense  stone,  which  tradition  says  that  the  Governor  required 
his  men  to  lift  as  high  as  the  knee  as  a  test  of  their  fitness  for  his  service. 

We  now  proceed  from  the  farm  house  to  the  old  mansion,  with  its 
hipped  roof,  which  is  close  at  hand.  The  fish-pond  is  passed  where  Lady 
Fergusson  used  to  feed  the  finny  tribe.  The  fine  chimneys  of  the  house  are 
worthy  of  notice,  and  they  have  been  kept  in  repair.  The  long,  narrow 
windows  of  the  reddish  stone  building  have  an  ancient  look.  Do  they  long 
after  the  beautiful  faces  who  gazed  out  of  them  in  the  days  long  ago?  The 
approach  at  present  is  to  the  rear  of  the  building.  As  the  remains  of  one 
side  of  the  jail  wall  are  visible  from  the  house,  let  us  hurry  in  lest  we  fall  into 
danger.  As  the  aged  lady  who  now  occupies  the  mansion  kindly  permits  us 
to  wander  over  it,  guided  by  Mrs.  Penrose,  we  meet  with  many  wonders. 
The  very  high  ceilings  astonish  one.  The  fine  parlor  is  wainscoted  with 
pine  to  the  very  ceiling,  while  an  ornamental  wooden  cornice  surmounts  the 
wainscoting.     The  carpenters  of  to-day  might  admire  this  woodwork.     The 


254  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

parlor  floor  is  the  same  that  was  first  laid.  Some  ornamental  bits  of  wood- 
work have  been  torn  away  by  curiosity  hunters,  who  have  also  carried  off  the 
tiles  from  an  old  chimney  place.  There  are  inside  paneled-shutters  of  wood. 
There  is  a  noble  old  fire-place  in  the  parlor,  encased  with  marble,  and  there 
are  fire-places  in  the  second  story.  The  hearths  of  the  fire-places  are  com- 
posed of  square  bricks.  The  balustrades  of  the  stairs  are  composed  of  fine, 
strong  woodwork,  and  do  not  seem  to  feel  the  hand  of  time.  Indeed,  the 
whole  building  hardly  indicates  that  the  contract  for  its  construction  was 
given  in  A.  D.  1721.  Eighteen  panes  of  glass  adorn  the  lower  windows,  while 
the  upper  ones  boast  of  twenty-one  panes  each.  The  fine  chamber  above  the 
parlor  is  said  to  have  had  tapestry  hung  on  its  walls  in  olden  time.  A  bit  of 
broken  wall  in  the  attic  roof  discloses  thick  mortar  and  laths  which  were 
split  with  an  axe.  Having  glanced  through  the  trap-door  on  the  roof,  and 
descended  to  look  at  the  dining-room,  we  step  out  of  the  front  door  over  the 
fine  old  stones  which  form  the  steps,  and  observe  the  quaint  bull's  eye  panes 
over  the  door.  A  little  granddaughter  of  the  Penrose  family  presents  some 
daffodils  she  has  kindly  plucked,  and  the  historic  mansion  is  left. 

Sir  William  Keith  became  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  Province  of  Penn- 
sylvania in  the  latter  part  of  William  Penn's  life.  He  was  a  Scotchman,  was 
an  educated  man,  and  his  manners  made  him  a  favorite  with  the  people.  At 
the  death  of  Penn,  Keith  appears  to  have  inclined  to  the  interests  of  the  elder 
branch  of  the  family,  though  Penn's  will  indicated  that  he  thought  the  elder 
branches  provided  for  by  the  Irish  estate,  and  that  his  interest  in  Pennsyl- 
vania should  go  to  his  children  by  his  second  wife,  Hannah  Callowhill. 
Wm.  Penn  Jr.,  the  eldest  son  by  the  first  wife,  thought  himself  entitled  to  the 
government,  and  commissioned  Keith  Deputy  Governor;  though  Keith 
doubted  as  to  his  position,  although  the  Assembly  worked  harmoniously  with 
him  ;  and,  with  their  assent,  he  established  a  Court  of  Chancery,  and  presided 
in  it.  While  in  the  executive  chair  of  the  Province,  from  1716  to  1726,  he 
lived  in  the  Shippen  house  on  the  west  side  of  Second  Street,  north  of  Spruce 
Street,  called  the  Great  House,  and  the  Governor's  House.  It  had  a  garden 
on  two  sides  where  stood  two  tall  pine  trees  of  the  primeval  forest,  a  well- 
known  landmark,  visible  for  a  great  distance  in  every  direction.  Wm.  Penn 
once  resided  there  with  his  suite  for  a  month, — (Scharf  &  Westcott's  History  of 
Philadelphia,  Vol.  1,  pp.  128-9,  and  note.)  A  picture  of  Keith  and  an  account 
of  him  are  found  on  pp.  177-8  of  this  volume.  The  same  engraving  is  in 
Bean's  valuable  History  of  Montgomery  County,  and  I  hereby  gladly 
acknowledge  the  courtesy  of  the  publisher  of  the  last  named  volume,  Louis  H. 
Everts,  in  allowing  me  to  use  it  to  embellish  this  article.  The  same 
work  has  a  picture  of  the  Graeme  Park  House,  drawn  by  that  indefatigable 
local  historian,  William  J.  Buck,  in  1854,  from  an  original  painting.  The 
writer  has  had  much  valuable  aid  from  Mr.  Buck  in  these  notes,  and  his 
article  on  Graeme  Park,  of  the  aforesaid  volume,  deserves  close  attention. 
Keith's  picture  hangs  in  the  rooms  of  the  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society,  on 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  255 

the  right  in  entering  the  door.  He  wears  a  wig  with  long  curls,  and  is  clad 
in  a  coat  of  mail,  with  a  ruffle  about  his  neck  and  an  ermine  robe  thrown 
over  one  shoulder. 

Keith  had  been  Surveyor  of  Customs  in  the  Carolinas,  and  was  an  adroit 
politician  and  accessible,  and  seems  to  have  had  much  power  over  the 
Assembly.  He  encouraged  the  putting  out  of  paper  currency;  he  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  militia  system.  When  superseded  in  July,  1726,  he  was 
elected  to  the  Assembly.  He  published  a  History  of  Virginia  in  1738,  and 
died,  neglected  and  poor,  in  London,  in  1749.  Lady  Keith  died  in  Phila- 
delphia. 

Keith  landed  in  Philadelphia,  May  31st,  A.  D.  1717,  being  received 
in  state,  according  to  his  liking.  He  tried  to  please  every  one  and  induced 
false  expectations,  though  he  was  an  ingenious,  sensible  man  and  a  good 
Governor  for  the  people  rather  than  the  proprietaries,  whom  at  times  he 
did  not  obey.  He  made  some  good  laws.  While  the  goodness  of  his  govern- 
ment in  its  relation  to  the  people  has  been  questioned,  Franklin's  opinion  is 
favorable,  and  he  was  in  a  position  to  speak  from  personal  knowledge.  When 
Franklin  came  to  Philadelphia  as  a  lad,  the  Governor  induced  him  to  visit 
London  to  secure  materials  to  start  a  printing  house  in  Philadelphia.  When 
the  youth  reached  London  he  found  the  Governor's  letters  of  commendation 
worthless,  and  was  thrown  on  his  resources  and  profited  by  the  hard  lesson. 
This  seems  to  have  been  a  part  of  Keith's  scheming  character,  and  perhaps 
having  encouraged  the  lad  he  hesitated  to  draw  back  at  the  last. 

Keith  favored  improvements  in  the  ferry  arrangements,  and  the  building 
of  roads  about  Graeme  Park.  Wampum  having  ceased  as  currency  and  coin 
being  scarce,  he  introduced  irredeemable  paper  currency.  The  English 
merchants  paid  for  American  products  with  English  goods  and  West  India 
products  and  "  negroes  and  indentured  servants,"  though,  according  to 
Franklin,  who  wrote  on  the  Paper  Currency  question,  there  was  more  coin  in 
Philadelphia  than  in  Boston.  Franklin  favored  the  new  currency  at  first, 
but  afterwards  thought  that  too  much  had  been  issued. 

According  to  Watson  and  the  Logan  papers,  Keith  had  a  military  display 
at  Penn's  death,  to  show  honor  to  the  memory  of  the  man  of  peace.  The 
Indians  of  Pennsylvania  sent  Mrs.  Penn  a  letter  of  sympathy,  with  a  garment 
for  her  to  wear  in  journeying  through  the  wilderness  world.  (See  Janney's 
"  Life  of  Penn,"  pp.  553-4.) 

There  was  a  war  of  pamphlets  about  Keith,  when  he  was  a  member-elect 
of  the  Assembly,  after  his  loss  of  the  Governorship,  but  he  absented  himself 
from  the  Assembly,  and  went  to  England  and  never  returned.  The  Graeme 
Park  estate  was  used  by  the  Governor  as  a  country  residence.  He  purchased 
1200  acres  for  £500.  It  appears  to  have  been  a  forest,  the  Old  York  Road 
being  the  nearest  highway.  When  deprived  of  the  Governorship,  Keith 
made  this  his  home.  His  action  in  putting  out  paper  currency  displeased 
the  Penns,  though  the  assembly  upheld  him.     Graeme  Park  was  given  by 


256  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

the  Governor  to  his  wife,  Lady  Ann  Keith.  She  sold  it.  It  was  bought  by 
Joseph  Turner,  and  afterward  sold  to  Dr.  Thomas  Graeme,  a  highly  distin- 
guished physician  of  Philadelphia,  and  son-in-law  to  Lady  Keith,  he  having 
married  her  daughter  by  her  first  husband.  Dr.  Graeme  had  300  acres  of 
land  in  a  park,  with  avenues  and  vistas.  In  literary  and  historical  associa- 
tion the  place  stood  very  high  in  Revolutionary  days,  and  its  early  history 
appears  to  be  like  that  of  the  seat  of  a  nobleman  in  England.  The  birds  and 
sheep  and  natural  beauties  captivated  Miss  Eliza  Stedman,  who  beautifully 
describes  the  place.  It  was  probably  natural  for  Keith  to  indulge  the  style 
which  his  bill  of  transfer  implies,  for  he  was  not  a  freshly  made  nobleman, 
but  his  father  was  of  the  nobility  also.  His  appointment  as  Surveyor-General 
of  Customs  in  America  was  made  by  Queen  Anne,  and  he  resided  in  Virginia 
for  a  time.  The  Philadelphians,  being  pleased  with  him,  used  influence  to 
have  him  appointed  Deputy  Governor  of  Pennsylvania.  Hannah  Penn,  who 
in  her  husband's  illness,  managed  his  affairs  with  prudence,  at  first  speaks 
highly  of  his  abilities  and  writes  commendingly  of  him.  Afterward  their 
views  differed  materially. 

Keith  strove  to  maintain  friendly  relations  with  the  Indians.  He  visited 
the  Governor  of  Virginia  to  confer  with  him  about  them,  and,  attended  by 
over  seventy  horsemen,  he  went  to  the  Indian  village  of  Conestogue,  in  his 
own  Province,  to  meet  the  Indians.  There  were  deputies  from  the  Five 
Nations  at  this  place.  He  made  a  wise  speech,  recorded  by  Proud,  to  the 
Indian  Council.  The  Indians  presented  various  bundles  of  skins,  inter- 
spersing the  successive  presentations  with  addresses.  (See  Proud's  History  of 
Pennsylvania,  Vol.  II,  Chap.  23.) 

The  emigrations  from  Germany  were  so  great  in  Keith's  day  that  he  was 
alarmed  lest  the  peace  with  the  Indians  should  thereby  be  disturbed.  He 
scarcely  foresaw  the  vast  hordes  of  foreigners  that  should  in  after  years  press 
the  red  man  from  his  native  haunts. 

Proud  says  of  Keith,  notwithstanding  his  desire  as  Governor  for  popular 
favor,  "  yet  it  is  most  certain  that  the  real  interest  of  the  province  of  Penn- 
sylvania was  much  indebted  to  his  care  and  management  while  in  that  office." 
After  he  lost  the  office  he  thinks  that  his  acts  caused  dissension  and  trouble. 
(Vol.  II,  pp.  201-2.)  It  is  little  wonder  that  loss  of  position  affected  him,  as 
it  has  other  men.  In  Sherman  Day's  History  of  Pennsylvania  (p.  21)  it  is 
said  that  "  the  province  certainly  prospered  under  his  administration,"  though 
it  is  added  that  he  would  side  with  the  popular  interest  against  the  proprie- 
taries. In  Gordon's  History  of  Pennsylvania  the  statement  occurs  that  Mrs. 
Penn  cheerfully  assented  to  Keith's  appointment  "  from  a  conviction  of  his 
capacity,  although  she  lost  thereby  the  sum  of  £250,  which  was  offered  her  to 
appoint  another."  There  is  a  reference  to  the  Logan  manuscripts.  Gordon 
thinks  that  Keith  was  misrepresented  in  England  and  this  made  his  removal 
more  easy,  and  he  criticises  his  conduct  after  removal  strongly. 


17 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  259 

After  Keith's  return  to  England  he  addressed  to  the  King  a  represen- 
tation of  the  state  of  the  Colonies  in  North  America,  which  is  in  Burke's 
History  of  Virginia.  It  is  of  value,  as  it  relates  to  the  produce  and  commerce 
and  consumption  of  this  country.  It  states  that  the  Colonies  took  one-sixth 
of  the  woolens  of  Great  Britain,  more  than  one-third  of  that  value  of  linens 
and  calicoes,  a  considerable  quantity  of  East  India  goods,  and  great  quantities 
of  English  silks,  and  speaks  of  the  naval  commerce  of  the  Colonies  as  very 
great  and  increasing. 

During  Keith's  residence  in  this  country  he  erected  a  pew  in  Christ 
Church,  Philadelphia,  as  a  Governor's  pew.  Graeme  Park  was  bought  by 
Keith  of  Andrew  Hamilton,  and  was  part  of  Samuel  Carpenter's  great  tract. 
The  mason  who  contracted  to  erect  the  house  was  John  Kirk.  Keith's  new 
roads,  for  which  he  petitioned  the  Council  ran  to  Willow  Grove  and  thence 
to  Hatboro. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  points  in  Graeme  Park  is  its  relation  to  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Fergusson,  an  early  American  poetess,  who  receives  notice  in 
Griswold's  Female  Poets  of  America.  Her  portrait,  as  well  as  that  of  her 
father.  Dr.  Graeme,. may  be  found  in  Scharf  &  Westcott's  History  of  Phila- 
delphia, and  Bean's  History  of  Montgomery  County.  She  became  famous  in 
the  Revolution  as  the  bearer  of  a  communication  to  Gen.  Joseph  Reed,  which 
task  she  undertook  at  the  wish  of  Governor  Johnstone,  one  of  the  Peace  Com- 
missioners of  Great  Britain,  before  the  British  evacuated  Philadelphia.  It 
conveyed  an  offer  to  Reed  of  position  and  emolument  if  he  would  use  his 
influence  in  favor  of  an  amicable  adjustment  of  the  differences  between 
England  and  the  Colonies.  To  this  Reed  replied  that  the  King  of  Great 
Britain  was  not  rich  enough  to  bay  him.  Mrs.  Fergusson  professed  to  be 
"  hurt  and  shocked  "  by  the  proposal,  and  in  those  troublous  times  may  have 
been  at  a  loss  how  to  act.  She  seems  to  have  been  devoted  to  the  interests 
of  the  American  cause.  Her  husband,  who  was  a  Scotchman,  had  embraced 
the  British  side,  and  though  claiming  to  be  a  British  subject  had  been 
attainted  for  treason  by  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  Mrs.  Fergusson  was  the 
daughter  of  Dr.  Thomas  Graeme.  Her  husband  went  to  the  old  country  and 
never  returned,  but  she  led  at  Graeme  Park  a  benevolent  life,  which  made 
her  beloved  of  all.  A  part  of  the  estate  had  been  sold  in  her  day,  and  she 
finally  sold  the  remainder  in  1791  to  Dr.  William  Smith,  of  Philadelphia, 
who  had  married  her  niece,  Anna  Young.  There  were  555  acres,  which 
brought  £3500.  "  About  the  beginning  of  this  century  it  came  into  the  pos- 
session of  Samuel  Penrose  and  is  now  owned  by  his  grandson,  Abel  Penrose, 
the  son  of  William  Penrose."  The  Penrose  purchase  was  but  a  part  of  the 
tract  held  by  Mrs.  Fergusson,  as  Dr.  Smith  had  sold  parts  of  it  previously. 
Thomas  Sober  had  sold  his  share  to  Dr.  Graeme.  The  old  place  contains 
several  farms,  and  the  time  when  "four  coach  horses  and  seven  saddle 
horses"  were  kept  in  addition  to  "six  working  horses,  two  mares  and  one 
colt,"  has  passed.     The  "  large  glass  coach  and  two  chaises  "  of  the  inventory 


260  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

no  longer  draw  the  gaze  of  the  country  children.  It  is  thought  that  a  deer 
park  formed  part  of  the  grandeur  of  this  estate.  The  raising  of  stock  was  a 
benefit  to  the  country,  and  the  inventory  notes  cattle,  sheep  and  hogs,  as  well 
as  horses. 

Keith  had  an  iron  works  in  New  Castle  County,  Delaware.  It  was  a 
grand  day  for  him  when  in  the  ancient  town,  which  is  the  County  seat,  the 
King's  birthday  was  kept  and  the  King's  charter  was  read,  establishing  the 
city  of  New  Castle  with  valuable  privileges.  The  Governor  made  an  address 
and  he  and  Lady  Keith  were  finely  entertained  by  the  magistrates  at  a 
dinner;  but  it  was  a  grander  day  when  at  Conestogue  Ghesaout  responded 
eloquently  "  in  behalf  of  the  Five  Nations  "  to  the  Governor's  words  of  peace. 
Keith  was  Governor  over  nine  years,  which  term  exceeded  that  of  any 
other  Governor  during  the  proprietary  rule  of  forty-four  years.  Franklin 
says:  "If  he  sought  popularity,  he  promoted  the  public  happiness,  and  his 
courage  in  resisting  the  demands  of  the  proprietaries  may  be  ascribed  to  a 
higher  motive  than  private  interest."  After  returning  to  Scotland  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  Parliament.  Jefferson  speaks  well  of  him  in  his  History 
of  Virginia. 

In  noting  the  history  of  Mrs.  Fergusson  we  will  trace  her  connection  with 
the  old  stock.  Governor  Keith  married  the  Widow  of  Robert  Diggs;  her 
daughter,  Ann  Diggs,  married  Dr.  Thomas  Graeme.  Mrs.  Graeme  died  in 
Philadelphia,  at  the  age  of  sixty-five  years,  and  was  buried  in  Christ  church- 
yard. Dr.  Graeme  was  not  only  a  physician  of  eminence,  but  was  a  Justice 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  appointed  by  Governor  Gordon,  and  held  the  post 
nearly  twenty  years.  He  was  Port  Physician,  Surgeon  to  the  Pennsylvania 
Hospital,  and  first  President  of  St.  Andrew's  Society  to  Aid  Scotchmen.  The 
Hatboro  Library  received  books  by  his  donation.  His  refined  wife's  death 
drew  forth  an  elegy  from  Francis  Hopkinson,  and  Dr.  Rush  spoke  highly  of 
her.  Dr.  Graeme  died  while  walking  at  Graeme  Park.  Rev.  Dr.  William 
Smith,  Provost  of  the  College  of  Philadelphia,  preached  his  funeral  sermon. 
He  was  buried  in  Christ  churchyard.. 

His  daughter,  Mrs.  Fergusson,  found  the  Park  a  proper  place  to  foster  her 
youthful  muse.  She  speaks  of  the  ivy  which  still  adorns  the  wall  of  the 
mansion.  She  went  to  England  for  her  health  and  visited  Scotland.  Rev. 
Dr.  Peters,  rector  of  Christ  Church,  Philadelphia,  introduced  her  to  high 
circles,  and  she  was  sought  by  the  most  celebrated  literary  gentlemen  of 
England,  according  to  Dr.  Rush's  account.  She  was  introduced  to  George 
III,  who  gave  her  particular  notice.  It  is  said  that  the  King  styled  her  a 
lady,  and  she  bore  the  title  of  Lady  Fergusson  in  her  country  home  on  that 
account  and  as  granddaughter  of  Lady  Keith.  In  Philadelphia  she  was  a 
literary  center  and  held  pleasant  receptions  in  winter.  Mrs.  Fergusson  is 
said  to  have  given  the  American  army  linen  and  other  materials  of  her  own 
raising  for  the  needy,  when  it  lay  at  Whitemarsh,  and  it  is  reported  that 
Washington  sent  her  a  letter  of  thanks.     There  is  a  tradition  that  Wash- 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  261 

iiigton  once  spent  a  night  at  Graeme  Park.  After  Mr.  Fergusson  joined  the 
English  army  in  Flanders,  it  is  supposed  that  she  ceased  to  hear  from  him. 
She  learned  to  endure  her  great  sorrow,  and  her  feet  often  crossed  the 
thresholds  of  the  poor  in  visits  of  benevolence.  She  denied  herself  for 
charity's  sake.  Hearing  that  a  man  of  affluence  had  been  placed  in  jail,  she 
obtained  admission  to  his  apartment  and  gave  him  $20,  concealing  her  name, 
which  was  discovered  by  his  description.  She  contributed  books  to  the 
Hatboro  and  Gwynedd  Libraries,  and  the  one  in  Philadelphia.  She  died, 
aged  sixty  years,  at  the  farm  of  Seneca  Lukens,  near  Graeme  Park,  having 
left  that  estate,  and  was  buried  in  Christ  churchyard,  Philadelphia.  Mrs, 
Fergusson  was  a  great  pedestrian,  walking  eighteen  miles  to  Philadelphia 
and  back  again.  Her  faithful  friend.  Miss  Eliza  Stedman,  remained  with  her 
till  her  death.  Her  nephew,  John  Young,  and  his  sister,  Mrs.  Anna  Smith, 
kept  up  the  literary  reputation  of  Graeme  Park  during  their  residence  there. 
Mr.  Young,  while  in  England,  translated  D'Anville's  Ancient  Geography, 
and  Mrs.  Smith's  poems  appeared  in  the  Columbian  Magazine  and  other 
periodicals.  Mrs.  Fergusson  translated  Fenelon's  Telemachus  into  English 
heroic  verse.  The  MS.  was  placed  in  the  Philadelphia  Library,  and  Griswold 
says  of  it :  "  It  appears  to  me  that  Fenelon  has  not  been  presented  in  a  more 
correct  or  pleasing  English  dress."  I  will  add  an  extract  from  his  quotations 
from  the  introduction : 

"  O  could  a  spark  of  that  celestial  fire 

Which  did  the  favored  Fenelon  inspire, 

Light  on  the  periods  of  my  fettered  theme, 
.  And  dart  one  radiant,  one  illumined  beam, 

Then  struggling  Passion  might  its  portrait  view, 

And  learn  from  thence  its  tumults  to  subdue." 

Mrs.  Fergusson  wrote  out  the  whole  Bible  to  impress  it  on  her  memory. 

The  preceding  narrative  shows  Graeme  Park  as  a  literary  and  social 
center,  but  in  the  Revolution  General  Lacy,  commanding  the  Pennsylvania 
Militia,  had  his  headquarters  there.  The  drawing-room  was  a  guard-room, 
and  the  lawn  headquarters.  The  house  has  been  honored  by  the  presence  of 
Thomas  and  John  Penn,  Bishop  White,  Andrew  Hamilton,  Francis 
Hopkinson,  Rev.  Nathaniel  Evans  and  Richard  Stockton.  It  is  certainly 
one  of  the  most  interesting  historic  spots  in  Pennsylvania. 

In  addition  to  the  authorities  referred  to,  I  would  add  Benjamin 
Franklin's  Autobiography,  the  pamphlet  of  Mr.  T.  Francis  Fisher  on  Keith 
in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania,  Vol.  I,  p.  425,  etc., 
and  Mr.  William  J.  Buck's  sketch  of  Horsham  in  Scott's  Atlas  of  Montgomery 
County.  Many  of  the  facts  in  this  article  are  from  his  two  articles  named. 
A  leaflet  by  Mr.  Henry,  of  New  York,  also  contains  a  summary  of  facts. 

Mrs.  Fergusson's  two  volumes  of  manuscript  in  red  binding  at  the  Phila- 
delphia Library  contain  her  translation  of  Bishop  Fenelon's  Telemaque. 
The  Invocation  to  Wisdom  by  the  Translator  begins  thus : 


262  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

"  No  dawn  of  comfort  could  Calypso  find 
No  balm  to  soften  her  distracted  mind, 
Eternal  life  her  tortur'd  bosom  pain'd; 
And  immortality  her  anguish  chain'd ; 
A  length  of  years  appear'd  a  train  of  woe 
A  dreadful  channel  for  her  griefs  to  flow. 
Ulysses  gone,  no  place  affords  delight ; 
The  absent  hero  haunts  her  anxious  sight: 
Her  voice  mellifluous  echo'd  not  around, 
No  floating  air  returned  the  silver  sound." 

This  pious  and  worthy  lady  showed  a  patient  literary  interest  in  trans- 
lating the  work  of  the  good  Bishop. 

Mrs.  Fergusson  assisted  Rev.  Dr.  Wm.  Smith,  Provost  of  the  College  of 
Philadelphia,  in  editing  the  poems  of  Rev.  Nathaniel  Evans,  of  Haddon field, 
N.  J.,  a  missionary  of  the  English  Church  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel, 
serving  at  Gloucester  and  St.  Mary's,  Colestown.  She  wrote  a  poem  on  his 
death  and  he  addressed  lines  to  her.  The  poems  of  Mr.  Evans  are  in  the 
Library  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Penna. 

THE  LOG  COLLEGE. 

The  celebration  of  the  founding  of  Log  College  took  place  on  September 
5th,  A.  D.  1889.  The  Bucks  County  Intelligencer,  a  few  days  afterward  con- 
tained a  full  account  of  the  great  event,  but  the  reader  may  find  an  Appendix 
in  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  Murphy's  book,  "  The  Presbytery  of  the  Log  College,  or 
the  Cradle  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  America,"  which  will  present  a 
vivid  sketch  of  the  scene.  Dr.  Murphy  the  pastor  of  the  Frankford  Presby- 
terian Church,  Philadelphia,  my  friend,  and  my  father's  friend,  deserves  a 
special  notice  for  the  fruit  he  bears  in  age  in  devoted  parish  and  literary 
work.  He  has  not  only  written  the  valuable  and  acceptable  volume  on 
Pastoral  Theology,  but  also  a  work  on  The  Duties  of  Church  Members  to  the 
Church,  which  has  had  an  immense  circulation.  The  history  of  his  parish, 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Frankford  came  also  from  his  fertile  pen. 

A  new  book  entitled  "  Beacons  on  the  Oriental  Shores,  or  Messages  to  the 
Seven  Churches,"  has  occupied  ten  years  of  the  Doctor's  life,  and  is  to  be 
issued  by  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication. 

The  book  on  the  Log  College  is  issued  by  the  Presbyterian  Board  of 
Publication,  and  all  who  feel  a  deep  interest  in  this  wonderful  institution  of 
early  days  should  obtain  the  volume  which  was  the  result  of  much  toil  by 
the  faithful  and  learned  author,  who  has  for  a  generation  served  his  parish. 

The  volume  induced  the  celebration.  Rev.  Dr.  D.  K.  Turner,  Secretary 
of  the  Presbyterian  Historical  Society,  aided  Dr.  Murphy  in  preparing  the 
volume,  and  has  a  communication  in  the  present  work  which  treats  of  the 
subject.  Rev.  Dr.  Willard  M.  Rice,  "the  best  living  authority  concerning 
the  history  of  Presbyterianism  in  Philadelphia  and  vicinity,"  and  Rev.  Dr. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  '  263 

Joseph   Beggs,   and  Rev.   Dr.   Charles   Collins   also   assisted   Dr.   Murphy's 
literary  labors.     The  octavo  volume  contains  526  pages. 

The  picture  of  the  old  Log  College  which  adorns  the  work  is  in  accord- 
ance with  Whitefield's  description.  Dr.  "W.  S.  Steen,  of  San  Francisco,  met  a 
pious  miner  named  Wilson  at  Yuba  mines,  and  these  two  Pennsylvanians 
used  to  study  their  Bibles  in  the  forest  on  Sundays.  A  grandfather  gave  the 
miner  a  Bible  containing  a  picture  of  the  College.  Dr.  Steen  recalled  the 
picture  from  memory,  and  the  designer  reproduced  it.  A  man  standing  in 
front  of  the  door  in  the  original  picture  "  bore  an  unmistakable  likeness  to 
the  existing  pictures  of  William  Tennent."  The  book  has  illustrations  of 
worthy  divines  and  churches  which  add  greatly  to  its  value. 

The  celebration  was  a  great  success,  as  the  crowded  road  testified.  The 
Appendix  gives  the  accounts  of  Rev.  Dr.  L.  W.  Eckard,  then  pastor  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  at  Abington,  of  Rev.  G.  H.  Nimmo,  and  Rev.  Richard 
Montgomery,  of  Ashbourne,  including  preparations  and  exercises.  Prof.  I.  R. 
Sweeny  led  a  choir  of  over  one  hundred.  Rev.  Dr.  Myrphy  presided.  Rev. 
Dr.  J.  Addison  Henry,  Dr.  Beggs,  Dr.  Eckard,  and  Rev.  Chas.  E.  Burns 
assisted  in  the  services.  Dr.  Turner  read  a  paper  on  the  Log  College,  and 
Dr.  R.  M.  Patterson  gave  an  address  on  the  "  Log  College  Evangelists."  Rev. 
Dr.  J.  O.  Murray,  Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  Princeton  College  was  a  speaker, 
and  Rev.  Dr.  Richard  Mcllwaine,  President  of  Hampden  Sidney  College, 
Virginia,  read  a  paper  on  "  The  Influence  of  the  Log  College  in  the  South.'' 
President  Harrison  addressed  the  Assembly.  A  hymn  composed  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Chas.  Collins  was  sung.  J.  Witherspoon  Scott,  D.  D.,  of  Washington,  said 
grace  at  the  meal.  Dr.  Ebenezer  Erskine,  of  Newville,  Pa.,  made  an  address 
on  "  Presbyterians  of  the  Cumberland  Valley."  Wm.  H.  Scott  read  the  hymn 
'*  Our  God,  our  Help  in  ages  past,"  which  having  been  sung,  Governor 
Beaver  followed  in  an  address.  Postmaster  General  Wanamaker  succeeded 
him,  and  Dr.  Chas.  A.  Dickey,  of  Philadelphia  "  read  a  paper  on  '  The 
Presbytery  of  Philadelphia.' "  S.  A.  Mutchmore,  D.  D.,  took  up  the  subject 
of  "  The  Early  Scotch-Irish  Immigration."  Rev.  W.  A.  Patton  (then  of 
Doylestown,  now  of  Wayne),  announced  the  hymn  "  Glory  and  Praise  and 
Honor,"  and  Rev.  Dr.  J.  H.  Mason  Knox,  President  of  Lafayette  College  made 
an  address  on  that  College.  Thos.  MacKellar,  of  Germantown,  contributed 
an  original  hymn  which  was  sung.  I  add  a  portion  of  the  lines  of  this  gifted 
singer  of  God's  praises : 

"  Strength  of  our  fathers  in  the  day 
Thou  didst  Thy  saving  grace  display, 
We  glorify  and  worship  Thee, 
O  Lord,  in  hymns  of  jubilee. 

A  grain  of  mustard-seed  was  sown ; 
Nurtured  of  Thee,  a  tree  hath  grown 
Whose  branches  overspread  the  land, 
Till  thousands  in  its  shadow  stand. 


264  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Its  fruits  are  knowledge,  life  and  light — 
Knowledge  of  Thee  so  clear,  so  bright, 
That  he  whose  soul  with  truth  is  rife 
Shall  find  in  Christ  eternal  life. 

Jehovah-jireh !  we  adore 
The  Lord  whose  grace  provided  more 
Than  they  foreknew  who  sowed  in  tears, 
And  reaped  in  joy  in  after  years. 

Glory  to  God !  our  voices  sing ; 
Glory  to  God!  our  praise  we  bring; 
Glory  to  God !  let  all  men  cry ; 
Glory  to  God!  let  heaven  reply." 

Dr.  McCosh,  ex-president  of  Princeton  College,  sent  a  letter  which  was 
read  by  Dr.  McCloskey  of  that  college.  The  Hon.  Henry  Chapman,  of 
Doylestown,  sent  another  letter  which  was  read  by  Rev.  A.  A.  Murphy. 
Letters  were  also  received  from  Rev.  Dr.  Brown,  of  Union  Seminary,  Rev.  Dr. 
R.  B.  Welch,  of  Auburn  Seminary,  General  Horatio  G.  Sickel,  Ex-Senator 
Horatio  Gates  Jones,  and  George  H.  Stuart,  Esq.  "The  venerable  Dr.  J. 
Witherspoon  Scott "  spoke  in  an  interesting  manner  of  "  his  family  connection 
with  the  Log  College  neighborhood,  and  his  interest  in  thus  revisiting  its 
historic  scenes." 

" '  Praise  God,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow '  was  sung,  and  the  bene- 
diction was  pronounced  by  Dr.  Scott."  Thus  closed  an  enjoyable  day  of 
religious  remembrance.  Dr.  Scott  is  the  father  of  the  lamented  Mrs.  President 
Harrison.  The  President  was  right  loyally  received  and  honored  on  York 
Road  and  at  the  celebration,  by  a  loving  people  who  know  that  religion  and 
good  government  should  combine  in  Christian  patriotism.  Dr.  Scott  has 
passed  to  the  heavenly  world  during  the  publication  of  this  volume. 

President  Harrison  was  entertained  by  John  Wanamaker,  at  his  country- 
seat,  called  Lindenhurst,  at  Chelten  Hills.  The  President  rode  in  a  carriage 
to  the  site  of  the  old  college. 

There  was  a  triumphal  arch  at  Abington.  Vast  crowds  were  along  the 
road  in  carriages,  on  a  very  dusty  day. 

The  next  day  the  President  planted  a  chestnut  tree  on  Mr.  Wanamaker's 
place,  digging  the  hole  himself. 

The  following  description  is  added  from  the  Buchs  County  Intelligencer : 

"  The  exercises  were  held  in  an  open  field  on  the  old  William  Tennent 
farm,  below  the  village  of  Hartsville,  now  the  property  of  the  Carrell  family. 
The  farm  ia  now  occupied  by  George  Carrell,  his  mother,  and  two  sisters,  and 
has  been  in  the  possession  of  their  family  for  five  generations.  The  former 
owner  of  the  property  was  John  Baldwin,  who  purchased  it  of  the  Tennent 
estate.  The  old  Tennent  house  stood  on  the  site  of  the  house  now  occupied 
by  John  Gerhart  above  the  Carrell  homestead  and  owned  by  Isaiah  Terry. 
The  celebrated  Log  College  stood  in  a  field  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  road, 
but  the  logs  used  in  its  building  have  been  removed. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  265 

"  Early  Thursday  morning  people  began  to  assemble  at  the  tents  where 
the  exercises  were  to  take  place.  Workmen  were  still  busy  putting  up  seats 
and  making  provision  for  the  accommodation  of  the  vast  multitude.  One 
large  tent  and  two  side  tents  had  been  erected,  and  seats  provided  for  about 
2000  people,  but  probably  twice  that  number  crowded  into  them  during  the 
exercises.  Everything  that  was  possible  to  be  done  was  provided  for  the 
comfort  of  man  and  beast.  Hundreds  of  hitching  posts  had  been  planted  in 
the  adjoining  fields,  and  in  the  surrounding  fields  could  be  seen  thousands 
of  teams. 

"  Inside  of  the  middle  tent  was  erected  a  large  platform  for  the  accomoda- 
tion of  the  singers  and  the  distinguished  gentlemen  who  were  to  deliver 
addresses  during  the  day.  The  front  of  the  platform  was  tastefully  decorated 
with  spruce  and  golden  rod,  while  potted  plants  were  placed  in  front  of  the 
reporters'  tables  facing  the  platform.  Large  flags  were  festooned  in  places  in 
the  three  tents.  A  large  number  of  the  seats  in  front  of  the  platform  were 
reserved  for  ministers  and  their  families." 

THE  TRIP  TO  THE  GROUNDS. 

"  The  President's  trip  from  Mr.  Wanamaker's  house  to  Hartsville,  over  a 
road  nine  miles  long,  was  a  continuous  ovation.  At  Jenkintown  and 
Abington,  thousands  of  people  had  gathered  to  greet  the  Chief  Magistrate. 
At  Abington  the  decorations  were  profuse,  and  the  party  halted  a  few  minutes 
to  view  them. 

"At  Hatboro  the  President  was  received  by  Lieutenant  Fisher  Post, 
G.  A.  R.,  who  acted  as  an  escort  to  the  President.  The  Huntingdon  Valley 
Cornet  Band  also  fell  into  line  here.  The  decorations  in  Hatboro  were  very 
pretty,  there  being  a  profusion  of  Chinese  lanterns  and  also  a  display  of 
explosive  fireworks.  All  the  bells  in  Hatboro  were  rung  as  the  President 
passed  by.  A  handsome  arch,  surmounted  by  flags  and  flowers,  was  also 
erected  over  the  road  on  the  bridge  at  Pennypack  creek. 

"  On  arriving  at  Ex-Congressman  Evans'  house,  the  Presidential  party 
alighted.  Mr.  Evans'  grounds  were  tastefully  decorated,  and  the  carriages 
drove  from  the  road  up  to  the  hou^e  under  an  arch  of  bunting,  and  along  a 
drive  lined  with  trees,  the  trunks  of  which  were  covered  with  the  National 
colors.  President  Harrison  and  Mr.  Evans  being  old  friends  the  meeting  was 
quite  a  pleasant  one,  and  the  reception,  although  entirely  informal,  seemed 
to  be  fully  appreciated.  The  party  then  continued  their  journey  to  the 
Tennent  farm,  and  passed  into  the  grounds  by  a  private  passageway  over 
which  was  erected  an  arch,  tastefully  trimmed  with  evergreen  and  flags." 


266  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

NOTES  IN  REGARD  TO  THE  YORK  ROAD  IN  BUCKS  COUNTY. 
BY  REV.  D.  K.  TURNER,  D.  D. 

The  Warminster  Hotel,  located  on  the  York  Road  just  below  the  Street 
Road,  has  now  a  farm  of  forty  acres  attached  to  it,  and  has  been  kept  as  a 
place  of  public  entertainment  for  nearly  a  hundred  years.  In  1791  Amos 
Dilworth  sold  it,  with  154  acres,  for  1300  pounds  specie,  of  Pennsylvania 
currency,  $3,466,  to  Isaac  Beans.  His  son,  Thomas  Beans,  kept  it  a  long 
period.  He  used  to  have  race  horses,  and  on  election  days  and  holidays,  a 
track  of  half  a  mile  was  prepared  on  the  Street  Road,  which  was  very  level, 
where  the  owners  of  fancy  stock  were  wont  to  show  their  speed ;  but  a  man 
having  been  killed  on  the  course  on  one  occasion,  the  practice  of  racing  was 
abandoned.  Mr.  Beans  was  a  noted  sportsman  and  had  a  track  on  his  own 
property.  The  owners  of  the  hotel  since  his  day  have  been  in  succession, 
Jacob  L.  Walton,  Salem  Walton,  Christopher  H.  Leedom,  William  P.  Fenton, 
and  Edward  Robinson.  No  other  hotel  was  ever  in  Warminster  but  this, 
though  the  hotel  at  Hartsville,  a  mile  and  a  half  north  of  this,  is  on  the 
southern  edge  of  Warwick. 

The  property  now  occupied  by  J.  Johnson  Beans,  Esq.,  next  north  of  the 
hotel  on  the  east  side  of  the  turnpike,  was  granted  by  a  patent  of  Wm.  Penn 
through  his  agents,  Edward  Shippen,  Griffith  Owen,  Thomas  Story  and 
James  Logan,  to  Joseph  Todd,  the  tract  then  containing  224  acres  and  94 
perches;  and  he  was  required  to  pay  to  Penn's  heirs  and  successors  forever 
at  the  rate  of  "one  English  silver  shilling  for  each  one  hundred  acres,  and  so 
proportionately  for  a  less  number."  Esquire  Beans  has  the  original  patent 
written  on  parchment  in  German  Text,  dated  December  29,  1701,  with  the 
signatures  of  Penn's  four  agents.  The  persons,  who  have  held  the  mansion, 
enlarged  and  improved  in  modern  times,  and  parts  of  the  land  since,  have 
been,  Samuel  Lloyd,  Isaac  Walton,  Jonathan  Walton,  Rev.  John  MagoflBn, 
Thomas  Dixey,  Casper  Pickel,  George  Council,  Thomas  Hanscome,  Elizabeth 
Bicknell,  Joseph  Saunders,  John  C.  Beans  and  J.  J.  Beans,  Esq.  Rev.  John 
Magoffin,  one  of  the  owners  of  this  place,  improved  it  greatly,  enlarging  the 
house  and  setting  out  a  long  double  row  of  shade  trees  from  it  to  the  road, 
which  form  an  avenue  of  great  beauty.  He  was  a  merchant  in  Philadelphia 
in  his  early  manhood,  and  having  accumulated  a  competency  he  felt  called 
to  enter  the  ministry  of  the  gospel.  He  was  examined  and  licensed  to 
preach  by  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  about  1819  or  1820,  and  removed 
to  Warminster  in  1829,  where  he  often  conducted  religious  services  in  school 
houses  and  neighboring  churches.  In  1836  he  changed  his  residence  to 
Buckingham,  and  soon  after  was  ordained  to  the  full  exercise  of  the  sacred 
office  by  the  Addison  Congregational  Association  of  Vermont.  In  1846  he 
removed  to  Bristol,  Pa.,  where  he  preached  frequently  to  boatmen  on  the 
canal  and  distributed  among  them  Bibles  and  tracts.  For  many  years  he  was 
President  of  the  Bucks  County  Bible  Society,  and  gave  liberally  of  his  means 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  267 

to  sustain  it.  His  reputation  among  all  who  knew  him,  was  that  of  great 
simplicity  and  perfect  honesty,  as  well  as  unfeigned  piety.  His  scrupulous 
integrity  was  never  doubted.  At  the  public  sale  of  his  effects  at  the  time  of 
his  leaving  Warminster,  he  advertised  "  two  horses,  one  blind  and  the  other 
going  blind,"  which  was  afterwards  proved  to  be  an  exaggeration  of  their 
defects.  But  this  was  only  one  instance  of  many  of  a  similar  kind,  in  which 
he  showed  that  he  preferred  to  wrong  himself  rather  than  others.  In  1815 
he  was  married  to  Miss  Cornelia  Patton,  sister  of  Rev.  Wm.  Patton,  D.  D., 
formerly  of  New  York,  who  was  the  father  of  Rev.  W.  W.  Patton,  D.  D., 
President  of  Howard  University,  Washington,  D.  C.  Mr.  Magoffin  died  in 
Bristol,  1860,  and  his  remains  are  deposited  in  the  graveyard  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  of  that  place. 

Continuing  our  progress  northward,  the  next  farm  on  the  west  side  of  the 
turnpike  is  that  of  Mrs.  Cornelius  Carrell,  which  formerly  extended  to  the 
east  side  and  embraced  the  lot,  on  which  stood  Rev.  Wm.  Tennent's  school 
for  ministers,  known  as  "  Log  College."  March  24th,  1724  the  ''  Trustees  of 
the  Free  Society  of  Traders  "  gave  to  James  Steel  of  Philadelphia  a  warrant 
for  1000  acres  of  land,  and  the  next  day,  March  25th,  a  warrant  for  the  survey 
of  100  acres  was  made  out  to  Jacob  Taylor,  Surveyor  of  the  Province  of  Penn- 
sylvania, which  was  laid  off  for  James  Steel.  In  1728  John  Linter  bought  it 
for  60  pounds.  Afterwards  Joseph  Howell  and  John  White  owned  it,  the 
latter  of  whom  in  1735  sold  it  to  Rev.  Wm.  Tennent  of  Northampton,  Bucks 
County,  Pa.,  for  140  pounds.  Here  Mr.  Tennent,  while  still  pastor  of 
Neshaminy  Presbyterian  Church,  established  a  seminary  for  the  education  of 
young  men  for  the  ministry  of  the  gospel.  Villages  and  settlements  were 
springing  up  through  the  country  with  great  rapidity,  and  few  of  them  were 
supplied  with  the  means  of  grace.  He  desired  to  do  what  lay  in  his  power  to 
prepare  ministers  for  their  high  calling,  that  the  word  might  be  proclaimed 
everywhere.  Under  his  instructions  a  considerable  number  of  devout  and 
zealous  preachers  were  educated,  among  whom  were  his  four  sons,  William, 
Gilbert,  John  and  Charles.  They  and  their  coadjutors  exerted  a  powerful 
influence  in  favor  of  earnest,  spiritual  religion,  and  did  much  toward  the 
advancement  of  the  church  in  the  land.  This  institution  which  he  estab- 
lished probably  before  he  came  to  Warminster,  as  he  is  spoken  of  previous  to 
1735,  as  living  in  Northampton,  continued  in  existence  perhaps  fifteen  or 
eighteen  years,  but  was  not  maintained  after  his  death,  its  place  being  filled 
by  the  College  of  New  Jersey  at  Princeton,  of  which  it  was  the  germ.  Mr. 
Tennent  died  in  1745,  and  measures  were  inaugurated  at  just  about  that  time 
for  the  establishment  of  Princeton  College.  The  year  following  his  death, 
1746,  Rev.  Gilbert  Tennent,  Executor  of  his  father's  will  in  regard  to  the  real 
estate,  sold  the  farm  to  John  Baldwin,  and  the  latter  sold  it  to  B.  Carrell,  the 
ancestor  of  the  present  owners. 

Passing  on  northward  we  next  reach  the  property  of  R.  T.  Engart,  which 
is  part  of  a  tract  of  500  acres,  granted  May  5,  1684,  by  Wm.  Penn  to  John 


268  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Jones,  of  London,  England.  His  sister,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Hilton,  after  his 
death,  sold  it  to  Thomas  Chalkley  for  thirty  pounds,  English  money,  Sep- 
tember 4,  1719.  Chalkley  sold  half  of  it,  March  6,  1723,  to  William 
Stockdell  of  Bucks  County  for  122  pounds  and  10  shillings.  The  deed  of 
Mrs.  Hilton  to  T.  Chalkley  was  "  stamped  with  three  sixpenny  stamps, 
according  to  law,"  and  attested  by  six  witnesses,  all  residents  of  London, 
where  the  deed  was  written.  Persons,  who  subsequently  owned  the  land 
were  William  Miller,  Robert  Jamison,  Robert  Miller,  John  Horner,  James 
Horner,  Alexander  McLean,  Esther  Kerr,  Rev.  James  P.  Wilson,  D.  D., 
Matthew  Wilson,  John  Engart  and  R.  T.  Engart.  Rev.  Dr.  Wilson,  one  of 
the  owners,  was  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia 
from  1806  to  1830.  In  his  early  manhood  he  was  a  lawyer  fourteen  years 
in  Delaware,  but  being  impelled  by  Providence  and  the  Divine  Spirit 
he  entered  the  Presbyterian  ministry,  in  which  profession  he  attained 
great  eminence.  He  preached  without  notes  in  the  pulpit,  but  with  choice, 
perspicuous  language,  and  without  hesitation.  Logical  and  concise,  his 
hearers  needed  to  give  careful  attention  to  his  discourse,  or  the  connection  of 
the  different  parts  would  be  unobserved  and  important  observations  lost. 
Having  occupied  that  large  and  difficult  field  over  twenty  years,  his  health 
became  impaired,  and  he  retired  from  the  city  in  1828  to  the  farm  in  Bucks 
County,  occasionally  supplying  the  pulpit  till  1830,  when  increasing  infirmi- 
ties compelled  him  to  resign  the  pastorate,  much  to  the  regret  of  his  congre- 
gation, who  loved  and  admired  him.  Afflicted  with  hemorrhage  of  the  lungs, 
he  was  accustomed  to  bleed  himself  at  intervals  to  alleviate  the  violence  of 
the  attacks.  His  death  occurred  December  9,  1830,  and  his  remains  were 
interred  in  the  graveyard  of  Neshaminy  Church,  in  a  spot  which  he  himself 
had  chosen,  not  far  from  the  last  resting  place  of  Rev.  Wm.  Tennent,  the 
founder  of  "  Log  College." 

After  his  decease,  his  son,  James  P.  Wilson  Jr.,  established  a  classical 
school  for  boys  on  the  property,  which  continued  in  successful  operation  eight 
years,  when  he  was  chosen  pastor  of  Neshaminy  Presbyterian  Church,  a  short 
distance  from  Hartsville.  During  more  than  thirty  years  past  he  has  been 
the  honored  and  successful  minister  of  the  South  Park  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Newark,  N.  J.,  and  still  discharges  the  laborious  duties  of  his  office  at  an 
advanced  age. 

While  he  was  minister  at  Neshaminy,  Rev.  James  P.  Wilson,  Jr.  built  a 
house  of  modern  style  with  two  wings,  in  Hartsville  on  a  beautiful  site  in  a 
lot  of  thirteen  acres,  whereon  he  also  had  a  school  house  erected,  with  the 
intention  of  continuing  his  classical  Academy  there.  When  he  left  the 
village  to  become  President  of  Delaware  College  in  1847  the  seminary  was 
for  a  time  discontinued.  In  1850  Rev.  Jacob  Belville,  now  pastor  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Pottsville,  Pa.,  and  Mrs.  McElroy  of  Lambertville, 
N.  J.,  opened  a  female  seminary  on  the  property,  of  which,  not  long  after,  Mr. 
Belville  became  sole  proprietor.     He  enlarged  the  mansion  to  accommodate 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  269 

an  increasing  number  of  pupils,  and  by  planting  shade  trees  added  much  to 
the  beauty  of  the  avenues  approaching  it.  In  1860  on  account  of  impaired 
health  he  withdrew  from  the  pastoral  charge  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
Hartsville,  and  soon  after,  the  seminary  was  given  up  and  he  retired  to 
another  field  of  labor.  Since  then  no  institution  has  been  located  at  that 
point.  The  property  has  been  occupied  by  Charles  Finney  and  Esquire 
Joseph  Barnsley,  and  is  now  in  possession  of  Mrs.  Lydia  Barnsley,  widow  of  the 
latter  Esquire  Barnsley  who  was  a  prominent  citizen  of  Bucks  County.  He 
represented  the  district  three  terms  in  the  State  Legislature,  was  Justice  of  the 
Peace  a  long  time,  and  was  appointed,  by  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
Collector  of  Internal  Revenue  for  the  Fifth  District,  which  comprised  Bucks 
County  and  the  northern  part  of  Philadelphia,  Frankford,  Germantown,  and 
vicinity.  He  was  influential  in  politics,  an  officer  in  several  financial  institu- 
tions, and  was  highly  esteemed  for  his  probity  and  integrity.  He  died  in 
1887  and  was  buried  in  the  Episcopal  graveyard  in  Newtown,  not  far  from 
where  he  passed  his  boyhood  and  j'outh. 

Adjoining  the  mansion  in  which  he  died,  stands  the  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Hartsville,  or,  as  it  is  sometimes  known,  Neshaminy  Church  of  Warminster. 
A  division  occurred  in  the  old  Neshaminy  Church  of  Warwick  in  1838,  which 
resulted  in  the  establishment  of  this  branch  and  the  erection  of  the  house  of 
worship  here  in  1842.  The  pastors  in  succession  have  been  Rev.  Robert  B. 
Bradford,  Rev.  Henry  R.  Wilson,  D.  D.,  Rev.  Jacob  Belville,  D.  D.,  Rev. 
Alexander  M.  Woods,  and  Rev.  G.  H.  Nimmo,  the  present  incumbent,  who 
has  held  the  position  eighteen  years.  A  graveyard  is  connected  with  the 
church,  opened  for  use  at  the  time  the  edifice  was  erected,  wherein  many 
have  been  laid  away  in  the  long  sleep.  About  1860,  Rev.  John  McCluskey, 
D.  D.,  previously  of  Washington,  Penna.,  who  had  bought  a  farm  in 
the  vicinity,  supplied  the  pulpit  eighteen  months,  and  taught  at  the  same 
time  a  classical  school  at  his  residence  for  boys  of  the  vicinity  and  boarding 
pupils  from  a  distance.  At  his  death  in  Philadelphia  in  1880  he  was  buried 
in  the  cemetery  attached  to  this  church. 

Hartsville  was  formerly  known  a  long  period  as  "  Hart's  Cross  Roads," 
because  the  Bristol  Road  and  the  York  Road  here  intersect.  On  the  south- 
west corner  a  house  was  built  about  1770  by  Rev.  Charles  Beatty,  pastor  of 
Neshaminy  Church,  which  was  occupied  for  a  time  after  the  Revolutionary 
War  by  his  son,  Dr.  Reading  Beatty,  engaged  in  the  practice  of  medicine. 
Dr.  R.  Beatty  subsequently  moved  to  Erwinna,  Bucks  County,  and  in  a  few 
years  to  Falls  township  near  Fallsington,  where  he  remained  for  forty  years 
employed  in  his  profession  and  greatly  honored.  He  was  an  elder  in  the 
Newtown  Presbyterian  Church,  and  a  daughter  of  his  married  Rev.  A.  Boyd, 
pastor  of  that  church.  About  1780  Col.  William  Hart  came  from  Plumstead 
to  the  Hartsville  Hotel,  which  he  kept  until  1817,  when  he  moved  to  the 
Beatty  house,  above  referred  to.  He  died  in  1831.  He  was  a  man  of  fine 
appearance,  and  endowed  with  great  physical  strength,  and  while  in  Plum- 


270  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

stead  he  had  been  prominent  in  the  capture  of  the  Doans,  who  during 
the  Revohition  took  occasion  of  the  troublous  times  to  rob  and  murder  many 
of  the  citizens  of  the  region,  and  even  to  plunder  the  County  Treasury  at 
Newtown  of  several  thousand  dollars.  After  Cpl.  Hart's  death  the  following 
persons  owned  or  occupied  the  Beatty  property :  Josiah  Hart,  Enoch  A. 
Wright,  Benjamin  F.  Wright,  Samuel  Craven,  William  Long,  and  Miss 
Marietta  Long. 

Those  who  followed  Col.  Hart  at  the  hotel  were  his  son,  Capt.  William 
Hart,  B.  F.  Wright,  William  Harris,  Samuel  Addis,  Elias  Krewson,  and 
others.  During  the  last  century  the  stages  from  Philadelphia  to  New  York 
ran  on  the  York  Road  and  alw^ays  stopped  at  Hartsville,  carrying  the  United 
States  Mail.  Here  they  took  a  relay  of  horses,  and  it  is  a  tradition,  that  on 
their  way  from  the  north,  when  the  driver  reached  the  top  of  Kerr's  Hill,  a 
mile  distant,  he  gave  a  long,  loud  blast  to  his  horn,  a  signal  that  the  fresh 
horses  at  the  hotel  should  be  brought  out  of  the  stable  ready  to  be  attached  to 
the  coach.  Many  years  previous  to  this,  about  1755,  when  Benjamin  Franklin 
was  Postmaster  General  of  the  United  Colonies,  he  used  to  go  up  and  down 
the  York  Road  between  New  York  and  Philadelphia  in  a  one  horse  chaise 
looking  after  the  interests  of  the  postal  service.  How  great  a  change  in 
the  mails  from  that  time  to  the  present  day !  In  1802  there  was  no  post- 
office  at  Hartsville.  In  that  year  Mr.  Means  at  some  distant  town  sent  a 
letter  to  Col.  William  Hart  at  Hart's  Cross  Roads,  directed  to  the  Jenkintown 
post-office,  eleven  miles  away,  as  there  was  none  nearer  than  that,  announcing 
the  death  of  John  Means. 

The  house  now  occupied  by  Lieut.  J.  L.  Widdifield,  directly  opposite  the 
hotel,  has  been  built  over  a  century,  but  lately  enlarged  and  improved. 
The  farm  of  forty  acres  is  a  part  of  a  tract  of  500  acres,  which  was  bought  in 
1684  of  William  Penn  by  James  Boy  den  of  England.  His  family  held  it  till 
1741  when  it  was  sold  to  Thomas  Howell,  who  in  1743  sold  to  the  trustees  of 
Neshaminy  Presbyterian  Church  of  Warwick  two  acres  and  two  perches,  on 
which  the  present  house  of  worship  stands.  He  also  sold  in  1742  fifty-four 
acres  and  a  quarter,  for  £54J  to  John  Griffith,  most  of  which  is  now  owned 
by  Lieut.  Widdifield.  After  Mr.  Griffith,  some  of  the  subsequent  owners 
have  been  Adam  Carr,  who  came  from  the  north  of  Ireland  more  than  a 
century  since ;  Henry  Jamison,  and  Joseph  Hart.  The  latter  was  a  man  of 
strict  integrity  and  uprightness,  and  was  employed  in  the  public  offices  at  the 
County  Court  House  at  Doylestown  a  number  of  years,  and  was  Treasurer  of 
Neshaminy  Church  a  long  period.  He  passed  away  in  1872  aged  82  years. 
Henry  Jamison  above  alluded  to,  drew  a  prize  in  a  lottery  of  $40,000,  a  con- 
siderable part  of  which  at  his  decease  he  bequeathed  to  his  niece,  Mrs. 
Joseph  Hart. 

About  half  a  mile  southeast  of  Hartsville,  on  the  Bristol  Road,  the  farm 
now  owned  by  Charles  Ramsey,  was  once  owned  by  Rear- Admiral  John  A. 
Dahlgren,  who  resided  there  from  1839  to  1843,  when  he  was  suffering  from 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  271 

weakness  of  sight  brought  on  by  excessive  use  of  his  eyes  in  mathematical 
calculations  in  the  United  States  Naval  Coast  Survey.  Having  by  rest 
recovered  his  vision  he  returned  to  active  service,  and  during  the  war  with 
the  Confederate  States  was  in  command  of  the  Union  squadron  in  the  harbor 
of  Charlestown,  S.  C.  He  invented  improvements  in  heavy  ordnance  for 
ships,  which  have  been  widely  adopted,  and  rendered  him  justly  celebrated 
among  modern  civilized  nations.  For  several  years  he  commanded  the  Navy 
Yard  at  Washington. 

Having  closed  Dr.  Turner's  account  we  resume  our  narrative. 

NESHAMINY  DUTCH  REFORMED  CHURCH. 

The  Low  Dutch  Reformed  congregation  of  North  and  Southampton,  now 
has  a  church  building  at  Churchville,  on  the  Bristol  Road.  The  first  church 
site  is  unknown,  but  at  an  early  date  there  were  churches  at  Feasterville  and 
Richborough.  There  is  an  old  graveyard  at  Feasterville,  and  a  Sunday  school 
is  conducted  in  the  hall  over  the  school  room  near  this  burial  place. 

The  Rev.  Jacob  Larzelere  was  the  pastor  of  this  parish  from  A.  D.  1798 
to  1828,  resigning  on  account  of  old  age.  (See  General  Davis's  History  of 
Bucks  County,  p.  209.) 

There  lies  before  me  a  pamphlet  sermon,  yellow  with  age,  by  this  clergy- 
man, on  the  death  of  General  Washington,  preached  February  22d,  1800,  and 
printed  by  Stephen  Ustick  at  Mount  Holly. 

The  sermon  closes  with  an  exhortation  to  "  look  forward  "  with  the  "  eye 
of  faith  to  that  better  country  which  lies  beyond  the  grave, "  and  declares  a 
good  man  to  be  "  the  best  citizen  of  his  country  "  and  a  wicked  man  the  worst 
citizen.  The  faithful  preacher  has  doubtless  ere  this  entered  into  that  good 
land  above,  where  no  bad  citizens  may  mar  the  perfect  government  of  God. 

A  TRIP  ON  THE  OLD  YORK  ROAD. 

In  going  above  Jenkintown  by  railway  the  traveller  leaves  the  North 
Penn  Rail  Road  at  the  former  Abington  Station,  now  Glenside,  at  the  inter- 
section of  the  Willow  Grove  Turnpike  with  the  railway.  The  little  stone 
depot  here  is  tasteful.  The  branch  railroad  is  called  the  North  East  Pennsyl- 
vania. At  Willow  Grove  the  railway  also  crosses  the  Old  York  Road.  Hill- 
side has  a  rustic  name  as  a  depot.  Ivyland  depot  has  been  moved  farther 
north,  and  Breadyville  depot  abolished  in  connection  with  the  extension  of 
the  railway  to  New  Hope  from  this  point  which  has  proved  a  great  benefit  in 
advancing  this  region.  Grenoble  Station  on  the  extension  recalls  France; 
and  Walton,  a  family ;  and  Buckingham  is  at  the  end  of  Buckingham 
Mountain,  and  on  the  old  Durham  Road,  now  the  Centreville  and  Pineville 
Turnpike.  Bycot  takes  the  name  of  Judge  Paxson's  residence.  Reeder  is 
from  Eastburn  Reeder,  and  Huffnagle  from  George  Huffhagle,  brother  of  the 
former  minister  to  Calcutta. 


272  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

.  At  Ivyland  is  a  large  summer  boarding  house  owned  by  Joshua  Bennett, 
but  unoccupied,  when  I  saw  it' 

Breadyville  village  and  post-ofRce  close  at  hand  bear  a  family  name. 

At  Ivyland  the  Rev.  Dr.  D.  K.  Turner,  a  well-known  local  historian,  and 
a  clergyman  who  did  long  service  in  Neshaminy  Presbyterian  Church,  meets 
me  for  a  historic  drive  which  the  peruser  of  this  book  may  share,  and  my 
companion's  information  is  here  imparted  to  the  *'  gentle  reader.  " 

In  driving  from  Ivyland  to  Hartsville  the  pretty  new  farm  house  of 
Pearson  Hendricks  is  on  the  right  hand.  Robert  Ramsey,  a  member  of 
Congress,  formerly  lived  in  an  old  stone  house  here,  which  has  been  demol- 
ished. He  represented  both  the  Republicans  and  the  Democrats  at  different 
times,  and  was  a  friend  of  John  Quincy  Adams.  He  was  a  farmer.  He  died 
since  1850.  His  son,  George  Ramsey  is  a  resident  of  Hartsville,  and  is  Treas- 
urer of  the  Neshaminy  Presbyterian  Church,  and  a  man  of  high  standing  in 
the  community. 

Passing  the  Hartsville  Hotel,  and  Mr.  T.  Willett  Boileau's  store  property 
we  ride  toward  the  Kerr  farm,  having  turned  to  the  right  in  leaving  Harts- 
ville, that  we  may  view  the  upper  part  of  the  famous  "  Old  York  Road. " 

About  8000  American  soldiers  were  encamped  on  the  rolling  hills  around 
us  in  the  dark  days  of  the  Revolutionary  war.  Their  camp  lay  on  the  south 
side  of  this  great  highway  between  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  which  were 
not  then  joined  by  Pullman  Sleeper,  Limited  Express,  passenger  trains. 

Mrs.  Ellen  Polk  saw  General  Washington  raise  his  hat  to  the  ladies  as  he 
passed  along  this  road,  and  greatness  throws  such  a  glorious  halo  about  a 
man's  act  that  this  gentlemanly  courtesy  was  long  remembered.  The  General 
once  touched  his  hat  to  a  colored  man  who  had  paid  him  that  deference,  not 
to  be  outdone  in  politeness  by  him. 

Mrs.  Polk  died  in  1849.  She  lived  near  Hartsville.  Mrs.  Polk's  Mill,  or 
Darrah's  Mill  was  a  grist  mill.  Her  son-in-law,  Mr,  Darrah,  now  runs  the 
mill. 

A  stone  bridge  now  spans  the  Little  Neshaminy  Creek.  It  was  under- 
mined by  a  freshet  years  ago,  but  the  arches  stood,  and  wagons  passed  for 
months,  but  a  woman  with  a  bundle  crossed  as  the  last  straw  to  break  the 
camel's  back,  and  down  came  the  bridge.  Was  the  bundle  a  band-box  ?  These 
country  bridges  form  a  pretty  feature  in  rural  scenery,  and  their  arches  as  one 
gazes  through  them  make  the  frame  of  a  picture. 

We  now  approach 

WASHINGTON'S  HEADQUARTERS. 

This  encampment  is  treated  of  in  the  Penna.  Mag.  of  Hist.,  Vol.  1,  p.  275, 
&c.,  by  W.  J.  Buck,  and  General  Davis  read  an  essay  before  the  Historical 
Society  of  Pennsylvania  on  it. 

The  American  army  was  here  from  the  10th  to  the  3d  of  August,  A.  D. 
1777. 


18 


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a 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  275 

The  name  of  the  owner  of  the  property  when  the  army  was  there  is  not 
known.  Afterward  Elijah  Stinson  became  the  owner,  then  Reuben  P.  Ely 
possessed  it,  and  afterward  William  Bothwell.  It  was  owned  at  my  visit  by 
his  widow,  Mary  Bothwell,  who  resided  in  the  mansion. 

Here  despatches  w*ere  written,  and  here  Generals  Greene,  Lincoln,  Stirling, 
Lafayette  and  Pulaski  conferred  with  Washington. 

The  main  body  of  the  army  was  encamped  around  this  historic  house, 
and  north  of  it,  on  a  hill  owned  by  the  Wallace  brothers.  It  is  supposed  that 
there  were  about  8000  troops. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  road,  army  orders  and  the  whipping-post  indi- 
cate discipline. 

On  July  25th  Washington  found  that  the  British  fleet  was  about  to  sail 
from  New  York  to  an  unknown  destination.  Thinking  that  they  were  proba- 
bly going  to  Philadelphia,  he  started  his  army  from  New  Jersey  for  Coryell's 
Ferry,  now  called  Lambertville.  On  the  28th  he  reached  there  with  Greene's 
division,  and  stopped  for  news.  On  the  31st  the  army  had  crossed  the  Dela- 
ware river.     They  went  on  to  a  point  near  Germantown. 

The  uncertainty  as  to  the  movements  of  the  British  continued.  Wash- 
ington took  the  army  back  toward  Coryell's  Ferry,  as  a  point  from  which  to 
work,  either  north  or  south,  as  might  be  necessary. 

The  English  fleet  went  southward  far  beyond  Philadelphia. 

After  Washington's  return  to  Hartsville,  on  the  23d  of  August,  he  started 
back  again  to  Germantown. 

Hartsville  was  then  called  Cross  Roads. 

A  mile-stone  at  the  foot  of  Kerr's  Hill,  Mr.  Buck  suggested,  may  have 
been  looked  on  by  Washington  and  his  generals. 

The  ancient  house  in  Warwick  Township  is  of  stone,  plastered  without. 
The  gable  stands  toward  the  road  on  the  right  hand,  a  few  feet  from  the  high- 
way. A  piazza  runs  along  the  front  of  the  farm  house.  The  yard  is  higher 
than  the  turnpike,  and  a  ha-ha  wall  is  on  the  roadside. 

A  newer  part  of  the  house  is  lower  in  height  than  the  antique  portion,  as 
the  building  consists  of  two  sections. 

Within  the  dwelling  the  rafters  are  visible,  as  is  common  in  old  houses. 
There  is  a  famous  old  fire-place,  now  closed  in,  in  the  new  part  of  the  mansion. 
The  walls  are  thick,  for  our  predecessors  did  not  erect  houses  that  would 
tumble  down  in  a  storm. 

Washington's  office  had  an  old  fire-place  in  it,  with  wood-work  above  it. 
There  is  a  Franklin  stove  in  it  now,  so  that  we  may  associate  the  names  of  the 
great  President  and  the  illustrious  inventive  philosopher. 

There  is  a  pleasant  view  of  a  country  landscape  from  the  open  door  of 
this  room  on  this  August  day,  and  doubtless  Washington  used  to  refresh  his 
anxious  mind  by  looking  upon  it.  While  men  come  and  go,  Nature  smiles  on 
each  generation,  and  let  us  believe  that  greater  beauties  await  God's  children 
in  another  world. 


276  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Here  the  good  Lafayette  joined  the  army,  though  he  had  been  before 
Congress,  in  Philadelphia  previously.  At  this  time  there  was  no  city  of  Wash- 
ington to  shelter  statesman  and  send  its  messages  over  the  civilized  world,  as 
the  abode  of  the  ruler  of  a  mighty  nation.  This  was  a  day  of  small  begin- 
nings, but  the  infant  is  now  a  strong  man. 

The  wood-work  and  panelling  in  the  parlor  are  like  those  seen  in  Southern 
mansions,  and  Virginia  homes  may  still  show  similar  mechanism. 

The  old  kitchen  has  been  removed,  and  a  new  one  built.  Probably 
the  old  one  stood  in  Washington's  day,  and  served  him  and  his  officers  with 
needed  food. 

The  book  of  Ecclesiastes,  (chap.  5,  9),  says,  "  Moreover  the  profit  of  the 
earth  is  for  all;  the  king  himself  is  served  by  the  field."  This  uncrowned 
king  also  shared  the  products  of  the  surrounding  earth  with  his  brave 
followers. 

On  this  peaceful  day,  under  the  sunlight,  as  men  quietly  pursue  their 
agricultural  pursuits,  or  ride  along  the  highway,  it  hardly  seems  possible  to 
recall  the  fact  that  in  Revolutionary  days  cattle  and  men  felt  the  danger  and 
alarms  of  bloody  and  cruel  war.     Let  us  thank  God  for  the  change. 

There  was  a  mile-stone  at  the  foot  of  Kerr's  Hill  which  long  marked  the 
traveller's  progress  as  he  departed  from  his  home,  or  returned  to  it,  but  it  is 
now  gone. 

The  steps  of  Washington's  Headquarters  are  ancient  stone  relics,  and  the 
piazza  on  the  main  house  is  old.  Formerly  there  was  a  porch  over  the  lower 
part  of  the  two-story  house.  The  surrounding  soil  is  of  red  sand-stone 
and  clay. 

Mrs.  Mary  Both  well  now  owns  this  property,  and  lived  on  it  when  I 

visited  it. 

The  name  Bothwell  graces  a  Scotch  village  on  the  river  Clyde,  and  at 
Bothwell  Bridge,  in  1679  the  Scotch  Covenanters  were  vanquished  in  battle 
by  the  Duke  of  Monmouth. 

James  Hepburn  Bothwell,  earl  of  Orkney,  was  husband  of  Mary,  Queen 
of  Scots.  So  history  and  romance  join  Scotland  with  America  in  this  name, 
and  as  in  old  times,  places  sometimes  gave  names  to  families  it  is  not 
impossible  that  there  is  a  connection  here. 

When  Dr.  Turner  and  the  writer  had  closed  their  investigations,  under 
the  kindly  guidance  of  the  owner  of  the  mansion,  they  resumed  their 
pleasant  drive  along  a  good  turnpike,  though  quite  a  hilly  one. 

Jamison's  Corner  in  Warwick  township  is  soon  reached.  Henry  Jamison 
took  up  one  thousand  acres  of  land  here  about  1682.  Mr.  Boyden  also  took 
up  some  land.  (See  Rev.  Dr.  D.  K.  Turner's  History  of  Neshaminy  Presbyterian 
Church.)  Formerly  a  Jamison  kept  a  hotel  here,  and  hence  the  name.  (See 
Battle's  History  of  Bucks  County,  page  506.) 

Dr.  William  Walter,  a  veterinary  surgeon,  lived  on  the  left  side  of 
the  road  here.     For  years  he  did  much  good  to  the  animal  world ;  such 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  277 

men  are  benefactors  as  well  as  those  who  give  medical  attendance  to  the 
human  race,  and  they  deserve  honor  for  their  useful  work.  The  Society  for 
the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals  would  kindly  prevent  pain  among 
them,  and  veterinary  surgeons  labor  for  the  same  benevolent  object.  The 
government  has  recognized  their  worthy  profession  by  appointing  them  to 
the  oversight  of  animals,  and  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  has  a  Depart- 
ment to  encourage  this  science  where  Dr.  Huidekoper  long  led  the  instruc- 
tions in  the  professorial  chair.  The  word  veterinary  is  from  the  Latin 
veterinarius  which  comes  from  veterinus  which  is  from  veheterinus  derived  from 
veho,  and  the  meaning  refers  to  beasts  of  burden.  The  verb  veho  means 
to  bear. 

Dr.  Walter  was  a  thoughtful  man  who  studied  his  work,  and  obtained 
foreign  books  to  guide  him.  He  had  a  wide  reputation.  His  son  now  lives 
here,  and  continues  his  father's  practice. 

John  Jamison,  a  grandson  of  Henry,  lived  at  Jamison's  Corner  much 
respected  for  many  years,  and  died  at  the  age  of  84,  a  few  years  since. 

Jamison's  Public  School  is  near  by,  on  the  Almshouse  Road.  A  Presby- 
terian Sunday  School  and  occasional  services  are  held  here  under  the 
direction  of  the  old  Neshaminy  Church. 

At  the  Corner  is  a  store  conducted  by  Mr.  Worstall,  and  the  Jamison 
post-office. 

The  Jamison  Hotel  is  an  old  inn  kept  by  Albert  Ramsey.  This  is  the 
election  place,  and  has  probably  seen  many  a  hot  debate  as  partisans  have 
urged  the  merits  of  their  respective  parties  and  candidates  to  the  uncrowned 
American  kings  about  them  who  rule  the  affairs  of  this  mighty  nation.  The 
inn  is  in  Warwick  township.  How  the  early  English  settlers  loved  to  repeat 
the  names  of  Old  England  in  their  new  homes,  that  they  might  make  a  New 
England  here,  and  imagine  themselves  among  early  scenes  where  childhood 
was  passed. 

The  English  town  of  Warwick  is  in  Warwick  County,  on  the  Avon 
River.  It  is  very  old,  and  noted  for  its  grand  castle,  enlarged  by  William 
the  Conqueror.  It  is  still  a  fine  castle,  well  furnished,  and  adorned  with 
elegant  furniture  and  paintings.  Guy,  earl  of  Warwick,  of  children's  stories, 
is  said  to  have  been  a  Saxon  noble  under  Athelstan.  A  tower  of  the  castle 
perpetuates  his  name,  as  well  as  Guy's  cliff.  His  armor  is  displayed  in  the 
castle.  But  we  do  not  have  the  dragons  and  wild  boars  of  those  ancient 
stories,  and  the  giant  with  whom  he  is  said  to  have  fought  when  that  giant 
was  the  representative  of  the  Danes,  does  not  now  frighten  us,  though  our 
ancestors  had  wolves  and  bears  to  fight  with,  and  Washington  met  giants  of 
opposition  in  various  ways,  while  giants  of  sin  are  still  abundant.  Castles 
are  pretty  features  in  scenery,  and  romantic  in  story  as  the  knight  in  plume 
and  buckler  rides  forth  to  defend  his  king,  or  win  the  smile  of  his  lady  love, 
but  castles  imply  aristocracy  and  serfs,  and  Americans  are  freemen,  and  are 
better  off  without  them.     These  beautiful  Pennsylvania  fields  smiling  under 


278  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

their  golden  harvests  need  no  armed  men  to  guard  them,  and  the  reaper  may 
sing  with  joy  as  he  gathers  in  his  sheaves  with  no  one  to  molest  him. 

There  is  a  Warwick  township  among  the  beautiful  hills  of  Chester 
County.  The  Post-Office  Guide  shows  that  several  States  have  post-offices 
bearing  this  old  English  name. 

But  we  must  jog  on  our  way.  On  the  right  hand,  before  reaching  Bridge 
Valley,  is  Patrick  Breen's  neat  cottage,  where  an  old  log  house  stood,  owned 
by  Mr.  Hellings. 

An  antique  stone  house  is  on  the  same  side  of  the  way  farther  on. 
Andrew  Kunner,  a  German,  lived  in  a  log  and  stone  house  near  by. 

A  modern  cottage  of  Albert  Mattis  is  near  the  site.     It  is  a  frame  house. 

Leonard  Laverelle's  old  stone  house  stands  back  from  the  road,  on  the 
same  side  of  the  pike.  Mr.  Laverelle  died  years  ago,  and  William  Shwartz 
now  owns  it. 

Bridge  Valley  Public  School,  with  its  piazza,  now  appears.  Neshaminy 
Presbyterian  Church  has  a  Sunday  School,  and  a  monthly  service  here.  Rev. 
W.  Preston  is  the  pastor. 

Major  Keller's  house  in  Bridge  Valley  village  has  been  remodeled,  and 
presents  a  pretty  appearance. 

The  Bridge  Valley  Hotel  is  now  private  property,  and  is  owned  by  Mr. 
Groom. 

Isaac  Ryan's  grist  and  saw-mill  is  on  the  Big  or  North  branch  of  the 
Neshaminy  Creek,  which  has  a  noble  stone  bridge  of  seven  arches. 

Bridge  Valley  Post-Office  has  long  been  under  the  care  of  Nelson 
De  Coursey.  It  was  established  in  18G9.  (See  Battle's  History  of  Bucks 
County,  p.  506.) 

The  daily  papers  now  bring  news  into  the  country  districts  faster  than  in 
the  English  days  described  in  Goldsmith's  ''Deserted  Village." 

A  little  hill  rises  from  the  creek,  and  a  stone  quarry  on  it  furnishes  the 
turnpike  with  a  hard  covering  which  sets  mud  at  defiance. 

The  Doylestown  and  Bridge  Valley  Road  separates  Buckingham  from 
Warwick  at  Wood's  Corner. 

Mr.  De  Haven  occupies  the  stone  house  of  ancient  date  which  belonged 
to  David  Wood,  who  died  about  1850.  May  we  not  suppose  that  the  French 
names  which  meet  us  in  this  section  indicate  a  Huguenot  ancestry  ? 

A  stone  house  belonging  to  the  Doan  family  is  on  the  left,  back  from  the 
road.     It  is  of  ancient  date. 

A  mile-stone  states  that  4  miles  separate  us  from  Hartsville,  and  24  from 
old  Philadelphia. 

George  Taylor's  pleasant  residence  stands  on  a  bank  on  the  left,  as  we 
pass  along,  while  Mr.  Fell  has  a  farm  opposite.  He  resides  there,  and  is  a 
manager  of  tlie  York  Road  Turnpike,  properly  called  the  Hartsville  and 
Centreville  Turnpike. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  279 

The  Bushington  Public  School  is  nicely  shaded  and  the  Forestville 
Presbyterian  Church  uses  it  for  a  Sunday  School,  and  occasional  summer 
services. 

Rev.  Jacob  B.  Krewson  is  the  pastor  of  that  church.  He  has  held  the 
charge  a  number  of  years. 

John  Foster  keeps  a  store  in  the  village  of  Bushington,  and  the  Bush- 
ington Hotel  is  opposite  the  store. 

A  pretty  Baptist  Church  of  wood,  with  a  small  spire,  adorns  the  village. 
Rev.  Dr.  Larison,  of  Lambertville  started  this  parish  and  is  now  the  pastor. 
He  kindly  wrote  me  the  following  sketch  of  its  history : 

THE  BUCKINGHAM  VALLEY  BAPTIST   CHURCH,  BY  THE   LATE 
REV.  GEO.  H.  LARISON,  M.  D. 

The  Buckingham  Valley  Baptist  Church  located  in  Bushington,  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Turnpike,  at  the  corner  of  the  road  running  north  to  Doyles- 
town,  was  the  outcome  from  missionary  work  done  by  Rev.  Geo.  H.  Larison, 
M.  D.,  who  lived  in  Lambertville,  N.  J.  and  was  pastor  of  the  Solebury  Baptist 
Church.  He  practiced  medicine  in  that  city  and  spent  his  Sabbaths  regularly 
in  the  pulpit  of  this  church  and  Sabbath  afternoons  would  preach  in  private 
houses  in  and  around  Centreville  (Buckingham  P.  0.),  when  he,  in  connec- 
tion with  other  help,  held  a  series  of  meetings  in  the  school  house  in  February 
and  March,  1880,  when  a  number  of  converts  in  these  meetings  organized  this 
church  in  August,  1880.  Dr.  Larison  with  others  supplied  this  church  until 
1886,  and  since  this  time  he  has  been  their  pastor  in  full  charge. 

In  1886  a  new  meeting  house  was  built,  30x60  feet,  at  a  cost  of  about 
$3,200.  It  is  handsomely  furnished  inside  with  chancel  robing  rooms  each 
side  of  it,  and  Baptistery  well  arranged  by  reilioving  the  pulpit  temporarily. 
Until  these  meetings  in  February,  1880  there  were  no  Baptists  living  in  this 
vicinity.  Before  the  church  was  built  Pastor  Larison  took  his  candidates  for 
baptism  to  the  Neshaminy  and  immersed  them  in  its  waters  with  one  hand, 
as  by  accident  in  1880  he  lost  the  other. 

This  church  being  located  at  the  west  end  of  the  fine  valley  of  Bucking- 
ham is  named  the  Buckingham  Valley  Baptist  Church,  and  belongs  to  the 
Reading  Baptist  Association  of  Baptist  Churches.  Dr.  Larison  having  been 
in  the  Solebury  Church  at  the  formation  of  the  Reading  Association,  and 
since  in  the  new  church,  is  consequently  the  only  pastor  that  has  remained  in 
this  Association  since  its  formation  in  1875,  when  he  preached  the  first  sermon 
before  that  body  meeting  in  the  First  Baptist  Church  in  Reading,  and  was 
then  elected  its  first  Moderator. 

I  will  add  to  the  sketch  furnished  me  by  the  pastor  that  the  church  was 
dedicated  on  November  3d,  A.  D.  1887. 

The  morning  sermon  was  by  Rev.  C.  F.  Frame  of  Hilltown,  and  the  dedi- 
catory sermon  in  the  afternoon  by  Rev.  J.  Sexton  James,  of  Germantown, 


280  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

and  the  evening  sermon  by  Rev.  N.  C.  Fetter,  of  New  Britain.  T.  EUwood 
Lewis  was  the  church  clerk,  and  Augustus  V.  Bodine  Sunday  School  Superin- 
tendent. 

Dr.  Larison  w^as  a  very  active  and  laborious  man.  He  preached  in  Rin- 
goes,  on  the  York  Road,  in  New  Jersey,  Sunday  mornings,  where  he  did  faith- 
ful and  acceptable  work  for  the  Blessed  Master,  and  he  rode  seventeen  miles 
to  Bushington  for  evening  service,  making  34  miles  in  the  trip.  He  practised 
medicine  on  week  days  in  Lambertville,  his  son,  F.  W.  Larison  being  his 
partner,  so  that  he  could  be  free  for  Sunday  religious  duty.  He  was  for  years 
the  pastor  of  Solebury  Baptist  Church  on  the  Old  York  Road.  The  Doctor  was 
born  near  Ringoes.  Larison's  Corner,  near  there,  keeps  up  the  family  name. 
In  1889  he  wrote  me  that  his  uncle  John  W.  Larison,  then  nearly  88  years  old 
lived  with  the  father  of  the  Doctor.  This  uncle  kept  the  noted  stopping  place 
on  Old  York  Road  from  1829  to  1870.  At  the  old  Episcopal  Church  burying 
ground  (St.  Andrew's,  Amwell),  at  Ringoes  were  buried  the  Doctor's  great- 
grandfather and  grandmother  and  some  children.  The  copy  of  the  church  deed 
dated  A.  D.  1725,  was  in  the  possession  of  the  Doctor  and  he  loaned  it  to  Rev. 
Elvin  K.  Smith  of  Lambertville  to  copy.  A  history  of  the  Ringoes  Baptist 
Church  is  given  in  the  pamphlet  "  The  Sixtieth  Anniversary  of  the  Central 
New  Jersey  Baptist  Association  "  held  at  that  church  in  1888,  pages  33-36.  It 
says  of  Dr.  Larison :  "  He  is  still  found  their  faithful  servant,  leading  them  to 
a  higher  plane. " 

The  Doctor  was  President  of  the  Hunterdon  County  (N.  J.)  Historical 
Society,  and  deeply  interested  in  its  work.  He  stated  that  the  Inter-State 
Meeting  with  the  Bucks  County  (Pa.)  Historical  Society,  in  Solebury  Deer  Park, 
near  New  Hope,  in  July,  1887,  gave  the  impetus  which  started  the  famous 
Log  College  celebration. 

This  devoted  man  was  taten  ill  in  his  carriage,  and  the  disease  termin- 
ated fatally.  He  was  returning  from  a  religious  service,  and  died  with  his 
armor  on.  Such  men  deserve  to  be  remembered  here,  and  will  not  fail  of  a 
heavenly  reward. 

A  stone  cottage  stands  on  the  hillside  above  the  church  and  on  the  same 
side  of  the  turnpike.     It  has  an  antique  appearance. 

Buckingham  Mountain  lies  to  the  northeast  of  the  Old  York  Road  as  the 
traveller  looks  from  the  Bushington  toll-gate.  The  dwellers  in  this  section  of 
country  have  "  a  fair  ground  "  and  "  a  goodly  heritage, "  and  can  say  with 
David  in  the  IGth  Psalm,  "  The  lines  are  fallen  unto  me  in  pleasant  places. " 

The  original  York  Road  branches  to  the  left  above  Bushington,  and  goes 
to  Centre  Bridge  on  the  Delaware  River.  This  was  the  old  stage  road,  though 
afterward  the  New  Hope  route  was  taken  up,  and  the  older  road  abandoned 
for  stage  purposes.  The  old  road  was  never  made  a  turnpike.  It  is  about 
nine  miles  to  Centre  Bridge. 

Buckingham  Valley  is  very  beautiful. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  281 

Iron  ore  has  been  dug  out  in  some  quantities  on  the  east  of  the  pike,  on 
Mr.  Williams's  place,  and  taken  to  Bethlehem.  The  mine  is  not  worked  at 
present. 

Buckingham  Mountain  and  Buckingham  Valley  accompany  us  hospita- 
bly all  the  way  to  New  Hope,  and  cheer  our  way  with  gladsome  smiles,  as 
David  describes  the  natural  world  in  the  65th  Psalm:  "The  pastures  are 
clothed  with  flocks ;  the  valleys  also  are  covered  with  corn ;  they  shout  for 
joy,  they  also  sing.  " 

The  country  is  full  of  pictures  of  vegetable  and  animal  life.  The  plougher 
or  reaper,  or  the  men  and  cattle  who  are  gathering  and  garnering  the  loads  of 
hay  and  wheat  are  not  working  to  make  a  fine  picture,  and  may  not  even 
know  that  they  are  observed,  but  nevertheless  they  may  unconsciously  give 
pleasure  to  others. 

The  name  Buckingham  so  common  here  takes  us  back  to  England  and 
the  two  Dukes  of  Buckingham,  father  and  son,  who  flourished  in  the  days  of 
the  kings  James  I,  and  Charles  I,  and  Charles  II.  The  second  duke  was  one 
of  the  ministry  under  Charles  II,  the  initials  of  whose  names  formed  the  word 
"  cabal. "  They  were  Clifford,  Ashley,  Buckingham,  Arlington  and  Lauder- 
dale. 

"We  pass  Comly  Dudbridge's  pleasant  home  on  the  west  side  of  the  turn- 
pike.    The  farm  is  owned  by  Joseph  Bosler,  of  Cheltenham. 

Edward  Williams  has  a  stone  farm  house  imbedded  among  trees,  at  the 
top  of  the  next  hill.  The  property  has  long  been  in  the  hands  of  the  family. 
They  were  large  land  owners.  A  lime-kiln,  with  its  picturesque  arch,  is  on 
the  place.  Buckingham  lime  is  good  as  a  fertilizer,  but  White  Marsh  lime, 
from  the  Sandy  Run  region  is  said  to  be  better  for  building. 

A  fine  farm  house  of  modern  style  is  at  some  distance  from  the  road. 
This  is  Charles  Williams's  residence.     A  long  lane  leads  to  the  house. 

The  Hughesian  Free  School,  farther  along  the  turnpike,  is  a  pleasing  and 
noteworthy  object.  It  was  endowed  by  a  Mr.  Hughes.  It  was  established  for 
Indian,  colored  and  white  children.     Its  date  is  A.  D.  1841. 

Children  gaze  at  the  strangers  as  we  ride  by  during  recess.  There  are  no 
Indians  there  now,  unless  they  are  from  the  Carlisle  school,  which  allows  its 
pupils  to  go  out  into  the  country  districts  for  service. 

A  former  Treasurer  of  the  County  lives  in  a  pleasant  stone  house  on  our 
left. 

The  village  of  Centreville  is  reached.  Centreville  Hotel,  kept  by  Mr. 
Righter,  lies  on  the  right,  while  tliere  is  a  store  on  the  left. 

A  road  leads  westward  from  this  village  to  Doylestown. 

Trinity  Episcopal  Church  is  located  in  this  village. 

Centreville  is  about  the  center  of  Bucks  County,  and  it  was  once  earnestly 
advocated  as  a  county  seat,  but  the  village  of  Doylestown  has  secured  that 
important  position.  Bean's  History  of  Montgomery  County  (page  1098),  states 
that  Wm.  Homer  remembered  Doylestown  "  when  it  contained  but  three  or 


282  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

four  houses."  He  died  in  1860,  aged  nine-two  years.  He  lived  in  Upper 
Dublin,  "  a  little  over  a  mile  northwest  of  the  Willow  Grove.  "  Doylestown  is 
now  one  of  the  finest  towns  in  the  neighborhood  of  Philadelphia,  and  its  grand 
court  house  is  a  worthy  ornament  of  the  rich  and  populous  County  of  which 
it  is  the  legal  center.     Its  public  school  house  is  a  magnificent  building. 

The  turnpike  from  Centreville  to  New  Hope  is  under  a  different  Com- 
pany from  that  which  we  have  just  left. 

There  is  a  creamery  at  Centreville. 

An  abandoned  toll-gate,  with  its  little  house,  mourns  its  departed  grand- 
eur, when  its  busy  occupant  was  an  important  personage,  intercepting  the 
journeys  of  the  farmers  whose  fine  farms  now  are  spread  out  around  us. 

Mr.  William  Stavely  had  a  fine  place  near  Centreville. 

He  was  long  engaged  in  the  printing  and  publishing  business  in  Phila- 
delphia, and  was  highly  esteemed.  He  was  the  President  of  the  Bucks 
County  Bible  Society,  having  held  the  office  of  Treasurer  before  he  was 
elected  President.  Mr.  Stavely  was  a  pillar  of  Trinity  Episcopal  Church,  in 
Centreville,  which  was  often  served  by  rectors  from  Doylestown,  though  Rev. 
Mr.  Carpenter  once  resided  for  a  time  in  Centreville. 

As  we  ride  along,  fine  farms  and  good  houses  abound  on  every  side.  The 
dweller  in  Eastern  Pennsylvania  lives  in  an  earthly  Paradise,  and  should  be 
thankful  for  "  good  land  "  which  God  has  given  him,  with  its  grand  hills  and 
refreshing  and  beautiful  streams. 

Grintown  was  later  Greenville,  and  is  now  Holicong.  According  to  tradi- 
tion it  was  called  Grintown  by  a  drover  whose  cattle  had  been  scattered  at  its 
cross-roads  by  a  dog,  at  which  the  people  laughed.  So  says  an  article  in  the 
Doylestown  Intelligencer  signed  "  W. " 

The  Indian  conquered  by  the  white  man,  now  conquers  the  white  man's 
names,  as  Holicong  replaces  Greenville,  and  Aquetong,  Paxson's  Corner,  and 
the  Indian  chief  of  Ohio,  Ogontz,  drives  out  Shoemakertown.  All  these  places 
on  the  Old  York  Road  indicate  the  return  to  aboriginal  language  which  is 
indeed  pleasant  in  its  sound,  and  romantic  in  its  history.  Where  a  name  has 
no  local  history  it  is  well  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  red  men,  but 
but  where  it  keeps  up  a  family  remembrance  it  is  a  pity  to  lose  it,  for  such 
reminiscences  fade  away  too  rapidly ;  let  us  not  hasten  their. departure. 

Near  this  village  lives  A.  S.  Paxson,  the  brother  of  Judge  Paxson,  who 
has  kindly  aided  in  the  preparation  of  this  volume. 

Greenville  or  Holicong  is  a  village  on  the  pike  where  the  public  school 
under  its  overshadowing  trees  shows  that  education  is  not  neglected,  and  that 
the  future  citizen  is  being  trained  up  for  usefulness. 

There  is  a  store  here  kept  by  E.  J.  Kirk.  John  Gilbert  owns  a  long  house 
standing  on  a  bank,  and  is  also  the  owner  of  a  carriage  and  blacksmith 
shop  here.  Jacob  Handy  is  the  wheelwright,  who  has  wrought,  as  the 
word  signifies  the  wheels  which  now  convey  their  human  and  material 
burdens  along  the  Old  York  Road.     Alfred  Fisher  is  the  blacksmith,  whose 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  283 

strong  arm  has  fashioned  the  ore  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth  into  forms  of 
strength  and  beauty,  as  the  wondrous  power  of  fire  has  forced  the  hard  metal 
to  yield  to  human  force  and  skill,  though  he  may  not  realize  the  mythological 
legend  of  Vulcan  forging  thunderbolts.  A  blacksmith  shop  at  night  is  a  most 
beautiful  picture,  as  its  lighted  interior  displays  the  shadows  of  the  moving 
workers  in  dim  outline,  and  might  well  give  rise  to  mythological  stories, 
especially  when  mechanics  were  hidden  arts  known  only  to  the  few  who  were 
initiated  into  their  mysteries.  Longfellow  handed  down  the  Cambridge 
blacksmith  to  a  glorious  future  when  he  wrote  his  famous  poem  beginning, 

"  Under  a  spreading  tree  the  village  smithy  stands." . 

The  description  of  the  daughter  in  the  church  choir  reminding  the 
toilsome  father  of  her  dead  mother  is  an  exquisite  one;  and  when  the  old 
tree  had  outlived  its  race  it  was  a  pretty  thought  that  led  the  Cambridge 
children  to  present  the  poet  with  a  chair  made  of  its  wood. 

The  painter  who  makes  the  country  carriages  gay  and  beautiful  as  they 
convey  their  occupants  to  church,  or  on  inland  voyages  of  business  or 
pleasure,  is  A.  T.  Moore. 

Conkey  Hole  is  on  Amos  Carson's  farm. 

The  house  is  pleasant  and  well  shaded. 

There  is  an  old  tannery,  now  unused,  on  the  roadside  here. 

On  the  east  side  of  the  way,  above  the  tannery,  is  the  late  Dr.  Wilson's 
place.  He  was  a  practising  physician.  Afterward  Rev.  John  Magoffin,  a 
Congregationalist  minister,  resided  here.  He  removed  to  Bristol,  and 
preached  to  boatmen. 

This  worthy  clergyman  came  from  Warminster,  and  lived  here  about  20 
years.  He  died  in  Bristol  many  years  ago.  His  wafe  was  a  sister  of  Rev.  Dr. 
William  Patton,  of  New  York,  the  father  of  Rev.  W.  W.  Patton,  of  Howard 
University,  Washington. 

A  fountain  adorns  the  pretty  yard  with  its  trees. 

A  bridge  is  passed  in  journeying  on,  and  a  hill  rises,  as  hills  regularly  do 
along  this  turnpike : 

"Alps  rise  o'er  Alps,  and  hills  o'er  hills  arise." 
Dr.  Staveley's  house  lies  at  some  distance  from  the  right  of  the  turnpike. 

BUCKINGHAM  FRIENDS'  MEETING  HOUSE. 

We  draw  near  that  historic  spot,  with  its  ancient  air  and  antique  sur- 
roundings. Here  the  Paxson  family  are  buried  among  other  early  inhabit- 
ants. Judge  Paxson,  whose  country  place  is  not  far  distant,  is  a  member  of 
this  family,  whose  legal  learning  does  honor  to  his  kindred. 

Buckingham  Meeting  House  lies  at  the  top  of  a  hill  on  a  high  bank.  It 
is  a  large,  old  fashioned,  simple  stone  building;  and  is  the  original  structure 


284  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

in  which  the  earlier  inhabitants  of  these  valleys  and  hillsides  conducted  their 
quiet  worship,  such  as  Charles  Lamb  so  strikingly  describes  in  one  of  his 
delightful  essays  in  "  Elia." 

Reddish-brown  shutters  protect  the  windows.  Small  panes  indicate  a 
time  when  glass  was  not  as  abundant  as  it  is  to-day.  Little  projections 
overtop  the  doors. 

There  is  a  two-story  stone  school  house  with  a  porch  in  a  pleasant  grove. 
The  kindly  care  of  the  Friends  for  their  animals  is  shown  in  the  horse  sheds, 
■which  are  always  the  adjuncts  of  Friends^  Meeting  Houses  in  these  parts,  and 
indeed  are  generally  seen  in  country  churchyards,  where  the  worshipers 
remember,  and  act  on  the  Scripture  declaration  that  the  merciful  man  shows 
mercy  to  his  beast,  or  as  the  Boole  of  Proverbs  expresses  it :  "A  righteous 
man  regardeth  the  life  of  his  beast,"  xii  chapter,  verse  10. 

A  graveyard  around  the  Meeting  House  is  a  most  interesting  spectacle, 
as  here  sleep  those  who  long  ago  rode  along  the  road  which  now  supports  our 
vehicle,  and  who  lived  in  the  houses,  and  tilled  the  farms,  which  now  meet 
our  eye  in  passing. 

In  Lahaska  village  there  is  an  Orthodox  Friends  Meeting  House,  and  a 
store  and  post-office. 

BYCOT    HOUSE. 

The  residence  of  Judge  Edward  M.  Paxson  bears  the  above  name.  It 
lies  a  little  way  from  the  Old  York  Road  on  the  right  in  passing  from  Harts- 
ville  to  New  Hope. 

It  is  named  after  the  family  estate  in  England. 

The  Honorable  Henry  Paxson  was  a  member  of  the  Provincial 
Assembly.     (See  Keith's  book  of  Councillors.) 

The  Judge  has  a  large  and  fine  estate,  which  is  kept  in  excellent  order. 

The  house  is  an  old  time  mansion,  and  high  iron  gates  give  the  place  a 
dignified  and  stately  appearance. 

A  country  hotel  borders  the  turnpike. 

The  valley  breaks  at  Lahaska. 

The  Solebury  Baptist  Church  is  above  Lahaska.  It  is  situated  on  a  hill- 
side in  a  picturesque  position,  as  the  hill  is  sloping  toward  the  turnpike.  A 
graveyard  adjoins  the  church,  and  those  who  worshiped  within  its  sacred 
walls  now  slumber  at  its  side  in  hope  of  a  joyful  resurrection  through  the 
power  of  that  Blessed  Saviour  whose  service  was  their  earthly  delight. 
•    There  is  a  wall  along  the  turnpike. 

The  church  building  is  of  stone,  rough-cast. 

The  hill  on  which  the  church  stands  used  to  be  a  hard  one  for  the  poor 
horses  in  stage  times  when  it  took  all  day  to  go  from  New  Hope  to 
Philadelphia. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  285 

Aquetong,  now  called  Paxson's  Corner,  is  passed.  A  wheelwright,  and  a 
blacksmith  shop,  and  a  store  and  post-office,  and  an  abandoned  lime-kiln  are 
waymarks.  Lime  was  formerly  much  burned  around  this  country.  It  used 
to  be  carted  round,  but  this  section  is  now  far  from  markets,  the  railroads 
accommodate  other  quarries,  with  their  quick  mode  of  locomotion. 

There  is  a  large  opening  of  a  limestone  quarry  above  Aquetong,  and 
there  are  some  striking  neat  stone  farm  buildings  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
way.  Thousands  of  tons  of  limestone  have  probably  been  taken  from  this 
quarry. 

We  now  approach  the  famous  picnic  ground,  Ingham  Spring  and  Deer 
Park,  now  called  Beaumont  Park,  on  the  east.  The  place  is  heavily 
wooded,  which  makes  it  a  delightful  resort  for  pleasure-seekers  in  summer. 
A  pond  or  lake  is  fed  by  Ingham's  Spring.  There  are  fish  ponds.  The  place 
has  a  very  attractive  appearance,  and  has  doubtless  given  delight  to  many 
seeking  the  natural  recreations  of  the  country.  Deer  Park  had  deer  and 
buffalo  as  attractions  when  leased  to  the  Deer  Park  Association. 

T.  T.  Eastburn,  Esq.,  George  Cook  and  Hiram  Scarborough  bought  the 
Deer  Park  property.     Mr.  Scarborough  is  dead. 

Mr.  Beaumont  sold  the  land  to  the  Deer  Park  Company.  A  pavilion 
was  erected  there  which  has  a  striking  appearance  from  the  road  in  passing. 

This  was  styled  the  Solebury  Deer  Park,  as  it  lay  in  Solebury  township, 
which  is  one  of  the  well-known  townships  of  old  Bucks  County. 

Some  picnics  are  still  gathered  there ;  there  were  more  formerly. 

The  Aquetong  school  house  skirts  the  way. 

A  beautiful  view  meets  the  eye  in  riding  on,  but  fine  views  are  constant 
along  this  route,  though  some  are  more  striking  than  others  in  the  wondrous 
and  varied  permutation  of  glorious  scenery  displayed  by  the  wonderworking 
hand  of  the  Creator. 

Here  is  a  building  where  fish  are  raised. 

The  Samuel  D.  Ingham  mansion  is  situated  on  the  left  hand,  on  one  of 
the  many  hillsides  around  us.  It  is  owned  and  occupied  by  Andrew  Jackson 
Beaumont. 

Ingham's  Spring  Flour  Mill  is  opposite.  It  is  a  wooden  building. 
Thomas  Poole  conducts  it.     It  has  been  burned  and  rebuilt. 

The  Ingham  mansion  stands  among  trees  on  a  bank  apparently  made  by 
the  grading  of  the  road.  The  house  is  of  stone,  plastered  and  whitened.  The 
roof  is  red  and  the  blinds  are  green  ;  and  the  various  colors  make  the  building 
more  observable.  Box  bushes  give  an  old  time  look  to  the  dignified  place, 
and  it  is  a  pity  that  the  box  is  not  more  cultivated  to-day,  as  its  brilliant 
green  enlivens  winter  as  well  as  summer.  It  seems  to  belong,  however,  to  the 
era  of  Lombardy  poplars  and  weeping  willows.  Time  was  when  a  row  of 
Lombardy  poplars  was  thought  a  fine  introduction  to  a  mansion,  but  fashion 
affects  trees  as  well  as  dress.    The  Ingham  house  has  a  fine  site. 


286  •  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

This  was  a  part  of  the  property  of  James  Logan,  the  faithful  secretary  of 
William  Penn,  who  resided  at  Stenton,  at  Wayne  Junction,  in  Germantown. 
The  Philadelphia  Library,  which  received  the  library  of  James  Logan  from 
him  under  the  name  of  the  Loganian  Library,  still  has  a  ground-rent  on  this 
property,  which  rent  is  reapportioned  everj'^  century. 

The  Ingham  farm  was  the  birth  place  of  the  celebrated  Samuel  D. 
Ingham.  He  was  once  the  most  prominent  citizen  on  the  Old  York  Road. 
He  is  thought  to  have  been  as  distinguished  as  any  native  of  Bucks  County, 
or  at  least  of  Solebury  township. 

He  was  a  business  man,  and  yet  one  who  improved  his  mind,  and  also 
took  an  interest  in  local  matters  as  all  persons  should,  who  wish  well  to  their 
fellow  men. 

He  became  a  Legislator  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Secretary  of  the  Common- 
wealth ;  and  was  in  Congress  for  seven  terms ;  and  at  last  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  under  President  Jackson.  He  was  interested  in  agriculture  and  in 
the  lumber  business,  and  the  development  of  the  Lehigh  coal  fields. 

The  hills  rise  in  beauty  as  we  draw  near  New  Hope.  In  the  148th 
Psalm  the  psalmist  calls  on  the  "mountains  and  hills"  to  "praise  the  Lord;" 
and  for  centuries  these  hills  have  obeyed  the  injunction  when  the  Indian 
admired  their  silent  grandeur,  and  when  the  white  man  learned  to  love  them. 
The  ground  along  the  turnpike  is  of  a  reddish  color,  like  the  soil  at  New 
Brunswick,  in  New  Jersey. 

As  we  draw  near  to  New  Hope,  the  Jersey  hills  are  in  sight,  dotted  with 
dwellings,  looking  very  differently  from  the  level  country  about  Camden; 
and  one  who  has  been  accustomed  to  think  of  New  Jersey  as  a  country  with- 
out hills  should  look  on  the  magnificent  scene  before  us. 

We  descend  to  New  Hope.  The  toll-gate  marks  the  entrance  to  the 
borough.  The  hamlet  here  used  to  be  called  Manchester.  A  new  house 
stands  nearly  opposite  Cintra,  the  residence  of  Richard  Elias  Ely. 

Having  passed  over  the  country  in  body,  we  now  return  in  mind  to 
Hartsville  to  take  up  the  history  of 

THE  NESHAMINY  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

Which  stands  in  a  beautiful  situation  on  the  shore  of  the  Western  Branch 
of  the  Neshaminy  creek  within  an  easy  walk  from  Hartsville.  The  Jews  used 
water  for  religious  purifications,  and  the  devout  Lydia  with  her  companions  was 
at  a  place  of  prayer  by  a  waterside  when  converted  through  God's  Spirit  by 
Paul's  preaching  of  Christ.  In  Holy  Baptism,  water  is  mystically  used  to 
wash  away  sin,  and  so  a  stream  is  a  fitting  place  for  a  Christian  church. 

The  eminent  local  historian.  Rev.  Dr.  D.  K.  Turner,  my  friend  and  the 
friend  of  my  father,  has  composed  an  interesting  volume  on  the  history  of  this 
ancient  parish,  from  which  we  condense  a  sketch,  as  it  is  a  narrative  includ- 
ing the  region,  and  embracing  many  distinguished  persons. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  289 

The  section  was  formerly  styled  the  "  Forks  of  the  Neshaminy. "  James 
Boydon,  in  1709,  owned  the  ground  on  which  the  church  stands.  His  land 
touched  the  large  tract  of  John  Henry  Sprogell,  of  Philadelphia,  which 
included  Jamison's  Corner. 

I  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Tennent's  grave,  years  ago,  with  Rev.  T.  C.  Pearson 
and  gladly  commemorate  his  piety. 

REV.  WILLIAM  TENNENT 

Came  from  Ireland  to  this  country  in  1716  or  1717.  He  was  "  born  in  or 
about  1673.  "  His  wife  was  Catherine  Kennedy,  daughter  of  an  eloquent 
North  of  Ireland  minister.  Rev.  Dr.  A.  Alexander,  in  his  "  History  of  Log 
College,''  gives  an  account  of  him.  In  1721  he  supplied  the  Presbyter- 
ian Church  at  Bensalem,  in  Bucks  County.  In  1726  he  took  charge  of 
Neshaminy  Church,  which  he  held  twenty  years.  He  sympathized  with 
Whitefield's  work,  and  that  great  evangelist  styled  him  "  an  old  gray-headed 
disciple  and  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ.  "  In  1739  Whitefield  visited  Neshaminy, 
where  about  three  thousand  persons  were  collected  in  the  graveyard,  and  his 
preaching  was  very  effective,  while  Gilbert  Tennent  added  an  exhortation. 

The  Log  College  was  built  by  Rev.  William  Tennent,  especially  to  edu- 
cate clergymen,  on  the  York  Road  about  a  mile  south  of  Hartsville.  Dr. 
Turner  reminds  his  readers  that  Franklin,  as  Deputy  Post  Master  General,  in 
1751  used  to  travel  over  this  road  to  superintend  the  mails. 

The  Log  College  was  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  road  from  Mr.  Tennent's 
residence.  It  was  really  a  small  school  house.  Whitefield  compared  it  to 
"  the  school  of  the  old  prophets, "  who  took  "  every  man  a  beam "  for 
building,  II  Kings  6,  2.  At  that  time  "  seven  or  eight  worthy  ministers  " 
had  been  sent  out  from  the  school.  Mr.  Tennent's  four  sons,  Gilbert,  William, 
John  and  Charles,  were  wholly  or  partly  educated  here.  They  all  became 
excellent  ministers.  Gilbert  aided  his  father  in  teaching,  and  then  had  a  church 
in  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  and  in  1743  took  charge  of  the  Second  Church  in 
Philadelphia.     He  was  an  earnest  preacher. 

Rev.  William  Tennent,  Jr.  is  noted  for  having  had  a  trance  after  which 
his  memory  was  impaired  for  a  time.  In  the  trance  he  saw  "  an  ineffable 
glory,  the  impression  of  which  on  my  mind  it  is  impossible  to  communicate 
to  mortal  man.  *  *  *  j  g^-^.  a^  innumerable  host  of  happy  beings  sur- 
rounding the  inexpressable  glory,  in  acts  of  adoration  and  joyous  worship.  * 
*  *  I  heard  things  unutterable.  I  heard  their  songs  and  hallelujahs  of 
thanksgiving  and  praise  with  unspeakable  rapture.  I  felt  joy  unutterable 
and  full  of  glory. "  He  had  appeared  to  be  dead  for  three  days,  and  his 
funeral  twice  appointed  but  a  young  physician  who  was  his  friend  insisted  on 
striving  to  restore  life.  The  three  days  Tennent  said  "  seemed  to  me  not  more 
than  ten  or  twenty  minutes.  "  He  wished  not  to  return  to  this  sorrowful  world 
19 


290  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

and  for  some  time  lived  above  the  world,  and  for  three  years  the  heavenly 
songs  were  constantly  in  his  ears,  and  his  thoughts  were  centered  on  heavenly 
things.     Dr.  Henderson  gives  this  account. 

Wm.  Tennent,  Jr.,  was  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Freehold, 
New  Jersey,  for  44  years,  and  died  there.  He  was  a  preacher  of  solemnity  and 
power,  a,nd  faithful  in  parish  work,  and  in  general  religious  efforts  in  the  State. 
He  died  in  faith  and  peace. 

His  brother  John  had  preceded  him  in  the  pastorship  at  Freehold,  but 
this  godly  man  toiled  only  about  two  years  before  consumption  took  the 
patient  sufferer  from  earth ;  as  he  bade  farewell  to  brother  and  father  and 
mother,  and  in  expiring  cried  "  Welcome,  God  and  Father,  welcome  sweet 
Lord  Jesus ;  welcome,  death ;  welcome,  eternity ;  Amen !  Lord  Jesus,  come, 
Lord  Jesus. " 

Rev.  Charles  Tennent,  another  brother  was  minister  at  Whiteclay  Creek, 
in  Delaware,  and  in  Buckingham  -Church,  Maryland.  His  son,  Rev.  William 
Mackey  Tennent,  was  long  the  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Abington, 
Montgomery  County,  Pennsylvania.  Yale  College  gave  him  the  Doctorate  in 
Divinity.  His  wife  was  Susannah,  daughter  of  Rev.  Dr.  John  Rodgers,  of 
New  York.  Rev.  Wm.  Tennent,  Sr.,  taught  his  children  Christian  truth  and 
they  faithfully  followed  his  teaching. 

Rev.  Samuel  Blair  was  a  student  of  Log  College.  He  was  at  Shrewsbury, 
N.  J.,  and  New  Londonderry,  or  Fagg's  Manor,  in  Pennsylvania,  where  he  had 
a  school  to  train  the  clergy  and  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Davies,  Alexander  Cummings, 
John  Rodgers,  D.  D.,  James  Finley  and  Hugh  Henry  were  educated.  He  was 
blessed  with  great  success  in  his  efforts  to  advance  religious  interest  in  his 
parish,  and  was  a  great  preacher.  Samuel  Davies  was  President  of  Princeton 
College.     He  wrote  an  elegy  on  the  death  of  his  teacher,  commencing  : 

"  Blair  is  no  more ; — then  this  poor  world  has  lost 
As  rich  a  jewel  as  her  stores  could  boast. " 

Rev.  John  Blair,  a  younger  brother  of  Samuel,  was  a  pupil  at  Log  College, 
who  succeeded  his  brother  in  the  church  and  school  at  Fagg's  Manor,  and  was 
Professor  of  Divinity  in  Princeton  College.  In  contemplating  death  he  said, 
"  Directly  I  am  going  to  glory ;  my  Master  calls  me,  I  must  be  gone. " 

Rev.  Samuel  Finley  is  supposed  to  have  been  another  Log  College  scholar. 
He  heard  a  sermon  in  Ireland  when  six  years  old  which  led  him  to  determine 
to  be  a  clergyman.  He  had  a  church  and  an  Academy  to  train  clergymen  at 
Nottingham,  Maryland,  and  became  President  of  Princeton  College. 

Rev.  William  Robinson  is  named  by  tradition  as  another  pupil  of  Mr. 
Tennent.  He  was  a  useful  and  successful  clergyman,  though  he  labored  but 
a  few  years  before  death  overtook  him.  Rev.  John  Rowland,  though  he  died 
young,  was  an  instrument  of  much  good.  He  was  a  student  at  Log  College. 
Many  other  pupils  were  honored  in  church  and  in  Society.  The  school  began 
about  1726,  and  is  supposed  to  have  continued  fifteen  or  twenty  years.  Prince- 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  291 

ton  College,  originally  at  Elizabethtown,  N.  J.,  in  1746,  relieved  the  necessity 
for  this  school.  Princeton  College  was  commenced  the  year  that  Wm.  Tennent, 
Sr.,  died.  It  was  moved  from  Elizabeth  to  Newark  in  1748,  and  to  Princeton 
in  1756.  Log  College  was  its  "  germ,  "  as  Dr.  Turner  states,  and  it  was  a  short 
time  after  Log  College  closed  that  Princeton  College  opened. 

Rev.  Wm.  Tennent,  Sr.,  died  in  1745,  and  is  buried  in  Neshaminy  church- 
yard.    He  was  73  years  old. 

Mr.  Tennent  held  the  church  at  Deep  Run,  about  12  miles  from  his  resi- 
dence. Rev.  Francis  McHenry  assisting  him  in  his  old  age,  but  in  1743  a  new 
church  was  built,  while  Mr.  McHenry  occupied  the  old  one  in  the  graveyard 
close  by.  Rev.  Charles  Beatty,  a  pupil  of  Log  College,  succeeded  Mr.  Tennent, 
in  1743.  He  was  a  relative  of  De  Witt  Clinton  on  his  mother's  side.  In  1756, 
in  the  French  and  Indian  war  he  was  chaplain  under  Benjamin  Franklin's 
command,  and  under  General  Forbes.  Ensign  James  Darrah  was  a  patriot  of 
those  days ;  Mr.  Beatty  preached  a  Thanksgiving  sermon  at  Fort  Pitt  after 
victory. 

He  was  greatly  interested  in  the  Indians,  aiding  John  Brainard  in  his 
devoted  work.  Mr.  Beatty  went  to  the  old  country  to  solicit  aid  for  a  fund  to 
relieve  aged  clergy  and  their  families.  He  saw  George  III  crowned.  In  1766 
with  Joseph  Peepy,  a  Christian  Indian  interpreter,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Duffield,  he 
went  130  miles  beyond  Fort  Pitt,  now  Pittsburg,  threading  the  forests  on  a 
mission  of  blessing  to  whites  and  Indians  to  further  the  establishment  of  settled 
religious  work.  The  Allegheny  was  crossed  by  canoe,  and  the  horses  swam. 
The  intercourse  with  the  Indian  king  and  his  people  was  striking.  A 
wampum  belt  of  friendship  given  by  Sir  William  Johnson  had  been  pre- 
served. The  Indians  readily  listened  to  Christian  instruction,  and  were  much 
affected  by  it,    A  Bible  was  given  to  one  who  could  read  a  little  English. 

Dr.  Beatty  went  with  James  Witherspoon,  son  of  the  President  of  Prince- 
ton College,  to  Barbadoes  in  1772  to  solicit  funds  for  the  College,  and  died 
there,  at  Bridgetown,  of  yellow  fever,  and  was  buried  there.  Dr.  Turner 
refers  to  "  Record  of  the  Beatty  Family,  by  Dr*  C.  C.  Beatty.  " 

Dr.  Beatty  stood  high  among  his  clerical  brethren.  He  lived  long  on 
John  M.  Darrah's  present  farm,  but  afterward  built  the  stone  house  in  Harts- 
ville  which  William  Long  occupies.  His  wife  was  Ann  Reading,  of  Amwell, 
N.J.  They  had  eleven  children.  Four  sons  were  Revolutionary  officers.  The 
family  history  is  indeed  "  a  very  honorable  record  "  as  given  at  length  by  Dr. 
Turner.  The  wife  of  Rev.  Dr.  Steele,  pastor  of  the  Abington  Presbyterian 
Church,  was  a  granddaughter  of  Dr.  Beatty,  being  the  daughter  of  Dr.  Reading 
Beatty.  Rev.  Henry  R.  Wilson,  missionary  to  the  Choctaw  Indians,  married 
Sarah  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Steele.  She  died  peacefully  in  calm  faith  at  her  mission. 
Another  sister,  Ann,  was  the  wife  of  Rev.  Alexander  Boyd,  pastor  of  Newtown 
Presbyterian  Church. 

Rev.  Dr.  Charles  C.  Beatty,  of  Steuben ville,  Ohio,  is  a  grandson  of  Dr. 
Beatty.     His  father  was  Col.  Erkuries  Beatty,  so  named  from  Greek  words 


292  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

meaning,  from  the  Lord,  as  the  child  was  esteemed  a  special  blessing  by  the 
father. 

REV.  NATHANIEL  IRWIN 

Became  the  pastor  of  Neshaminy  Church  in  1774.  He  was  born  at  Fagg's 
Manor,  Pa.,  in  1746,  and  graduated  at  Princeton  College.  President  Madison 
was  a  fellow-collegian.  Mr.  Irwin  was  a  tall  man  of  noble  and  striking  appear- 
Brnce,  and  an  intelligent  countenance.  He  was  a  fine  scholar,  and  an  excel- 
lent preacher.  He  lived  on  his  farm  on  the  road  from  Doylestown  to  Phila- 
delphia. His  fine  stone  house  still  stands,  but  was  enlarged  by  Perry  McNeille, 
Esq.,  who  moved  from  Philadelphia  to  that  mansion. 

In  1775  the  church  was  enlarged.  There  was  no  church  where  Doyles- 
town stands,  and  men  and  women  used  to  walk  six  or  seven  miles  or  more  to 
church.  Mr.  Irwin,  when  physicians  were  few,  used  to  prescribe  remedies  for 
his  people.  He  befriended  the  widow  and  the  orphan,  and  was  a  man  of 
influence  in  the  whole  region.  He  was  zealous  in  aiding  the  Revolution,  and 
Captain  Henry  Darrah,  great-grandfather  of  R.  H.  Darrah,  an  elder  at 
Neshaminy,  was  a  member  of  this  congregation.  Mr.  Irwin  was  the  friend 
and  pastor  of  John  Fitch,  and  was  interested  in  his  invention  of  the  steam- 
boat ;  he  gave  the  inventor  advice  and  pecuniary  aid,  and  Fitch  dedicated  his 
autobiography  to  him,  as  the  clergymen  had  wished  him  to  write  the  account. 
This  good  pastor  had  much  influence  with  the  young,  and  was  a  welcome 
guest  among  his  people  in  joy  or  sorrow,  and  could  well  direct  penitent  sinners 
to  the  Lamb  of  God  for  comfort. 

His  funeral  sermons  were  "  solemn  and  impressive. "  His  sermons 
were  generally  without  a  manuscript.  His  funeral  sermon  for  Rev.  James 
Grier,  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Deep  Run,  preached  in  1792,  was 
published.  He  preached  the  ordination  sermon  of  Rev.  Thomas  Dunn,  pastor 
of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  Germantown,  in  1811.  Mr.  Irwin  bequeathed 
a  sum  to  Neshaminy  Church  to  be  received  after  the  death  of  his  sister,  Mrs. 
McEachran. 

The  first  wife  of  this  pastor  was  Martha  Jamison,  daughter  of  Henry 
Jamison,  of  Centreville.  His  second  wife  was  Priscilla  McKinstry.  Mr.  Irwin 
was  only  absent  one  Lord's  Day  from  the  pulpit  before  his  death.  A  vast 
number  attended  his  funeral.  Rev.  James  P.  Wilson,  D.  D.,  of  Philadelphia, 
preached  the  sermon.  He  was  buried  by  his  desire  where  the  pulpit  in  the 
original  church  once  rose.  He  died  in  1812  at  the  age  of  sixty-five.  This  is 
his  epitaph  : 

.    "To  this  sad  tomb,  who  e'er  thou  art,  draw  near; 
Here  lies  a  friend  to  truth ;  of  soul  sincere, 
Of  manners  unaffected  and  of  mind 
Enlarged ;  he  wished  the  good  of  all  mankind ; 
Calmly  he  looked  on  either  life,  for  here 
His  peace  was  made,  and  nothing  left  to  fear." 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  293 

His  widow  died  in  1822,  and  was  buried  beside  "  her  revered  and  beloved 
husband. " 

Various  clergy  supplied  the  church  after  Mr.  Irwin's  death,  among  whom 
were  Rev.  John  McKnight  and  Rev.  Robert  B.  Belville.  Mr.  Belville  became 
the  next  pastor,  in  1813.  He  was  ^ born  in  or  near  the  town  of  New  Castle, 
Delaware,  in  1790,  and  was  of  Huguenot  descent.  He  was  educated  in  part 
by  the  author  of  Ross's  Latin  Grammar,  James  Ross,  and  in  part  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania.  He  taught  at  Wilmington,  Delaware,  and  Burling- 
ton, N.  J. 

He  studied  theology  under  Dr.  Samuel  Stanhope  Smith,  President  of 
Princeton  College.  He  was  eloquent,  and  his  appearance  and  manners  were 
attractive.  In  1822  "a  remarkable  visitation  of  the  Holy  Spirit"  increased 
the  number  of  communicants  in  the  church.  In  1832  and  1833  the  prayers 
of  God's  people  were  answered  by  another  ingathering  of  souls.  A  "  Twilight 
concert  of  prayer"  was  observed,  each  one. praying,  wherever  he  was  at  the 
sun-setting,  that  God  would  pour  the  Holy  Spirit's  influence  upon  the  congre- 
gation. About  this  time  there  were  six  Bible  classes  in  school  houses  or 
private  houses.  In  February,  A.  D.  1833,  Dr.  Ezra  Stiles  Ely,  of  Philadelphia, 
preached  four  times  at  Neshaminy  in  one  day. 

Mr.  Belville  bought  land  of  William  Hart  near  the  church  where  he 
built  a  house;  in  1815  he  married  Miss  Mary  Gaw,  of  Princeton,  N.  J.,  whose 
piety  and  prudence  and  zealous  Christian  efforts  aided  his  work.  This  pastor 
started  a  boarding  and  day  school  at  Neshaminy,  which  he  conducted  nine 
years.  He  gave  a  piece  of  ground  to  enlarge  the  graveyard.  The  committee 
to  build  a  stone  wall  about  the  addition  were  John  Harvey,  William  Carr 
and  Samuel  McNair. 

Rev.  James  Patriot  Wilson,  D.  D.,  Sr.,  spent  his  last  years  on  a  farm 
south  of  Hartsville,  joining  what  was  the  property  of  Rev.  Wm.  Tennent,  Sr. 
Dr.  Turner  gives  a  sketch  of  this  clergyman  mostly  from  one  furnished  for 
Rev.  Dr.  Sprague's  Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit.  Rev.  J.  P.  Wilson, 
D.  D.,  Jr.  prepared  the  manuscript  for  Dr.  Sprague.  Dr.  Wilson  was  born  at 
Lewes,  Delaware,  in  1769,  and  was  the  son  of  a  clergyman.  He  graduated 
at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  "with  high  honor,  and  was  offered  an 
assistant  professorship  in  mathematics,  but  became  a  lawyer. 

Afterward  he  entered  the  ministry,  taking  charge  of  the  churches  at 
Lewes,  Cool  Spring  and  Indian  River  which  his  father  had  served.  In  1806 
by  the  influence  of  his  friend,  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  he  was  called  to  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Philadelphia.  In  1828  he  moved  to  the  Hartsville 
farm  on  account  of  weak  health,  still  serving  his  congregation  somewhat,  but 
in  1830  he  resigned,  and  died  that  year  and  was  buried  in  Neshaminy 
churchyard.  His  wife,  Mary  Hall,  sister  of  Governor  Hall,  of  Delaware,  was 
buried  at  his  side  in  1839.  His  first  wife  was  Elizabeth  Woods,  of  Lewes. 
Dr.  Wilson  was  a  man  of  good  manners,  and  instructive  conversation,  and  a 
thoughtful  preacher,  being  a  close  reason er.     He  never  read  his  sermons. 


294  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

"  He  was  very  familiar  with  all  the  Greek  and  Latin  Fathers  of  the  Christian 
Church,  and  almost  lived  among  them." 

Dr.  Turner  gives  a  biographical  sketch  of  Elder  Gideon  Prior,  who  was 
at  the  siege  of  Yorktown.  He  was  an  excellent  school-teacher,  and  taught 
singing  classes.  He  was  very  familiar  with  the  Latin  language.  His 
Christian  character  was  his  greatest  honor. 

Hon.  Robert  Ramsey,  a  Pennsylvania  Legislator,  and  a  member  of 
Congress,  and  a  friend  of  John  Quincy  Adams  receives  due  notice. 

Samuel  Hart,  a  surveyor  and  conveyancer,  and  a  fine  penman  was  a 
trustee  of  the  church  from  1810  to  1823.  He  was  an  associate  judge.  He 
moved  near  Doylestown,  and  became  a  Friend.  His  son  George  was  a 
lawyer  in  Doylestown,  and  his  son  Josiah  became  banker  there. 

Asahel  Prior,  son  of  Elder  Gideon  Prior,  died  in  1830,  after  graduating 
at  Jefferson  College. 

Samuel  Long,  a  graduate  of  Jefferson  College,  at  Canonsburg,  Pa.,  had  an 
excellent  boarding  school  near  Harts ville,  and  was  much  beloved  and 
respected.     His  wife  was  Miss  Jane  Mearns,  of  Warwick. 

Rev.  Dr.  Turner's  History  of  Neshaminy  Church  gives  a  sketch  of  Rev. 
John  Magoffin.  He  was  born  near  Carlisle,  Pa.,  in  1780.  In  early  life  he 
was  a  merchant  in  Philadelphia.  About  1819  or  1820  he  was  licensed  by 
the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia.  About  1827  he  moved  to  Warminster,  "  near 
the  site  of  Log  College."  He  assisted  Rev.  Mr.  Belville,  and  preached  in 
schoolhouses,  and  in  Hatboro  Academy,  and  occasionally  for  Rev.  Abraham 
Halsey,  at  Churchville. 

About  1836  he  moved  to  Buckingham.  He  was  then  in  the  congregation 
of  Solebury  Presbyterian  Church,  and  aided  Rev.  P.  0.  Studdiford,  its  pastor, 
who  lived  in  Lambertville,  N.  J. 

In  1846  Mr.  Magoffin  moved  to  Bristol,  and  preached  to  canal  boatmen, 
and  gave  them  Bibles,  and  tracts,  and  strove  to  raise  them  morally,  spiritually 
and  temporally.  When  his  health  forbade  this  work  he  engaged  others  to 
do  it  at  his  expense.  He  was  President  of  the  Bucks  County  Bible  Society, 
and  was  "  deeply  interested  "  in  supplying  the  families  in  the  County  with 
the  Holy  Scriptures.  All  were  struck  by  his  holy  life.  He  died  in  Bristol  in 
1860,  in  his  80th  year,  and  was  buried  in  the  Episcopal  churchyard.  His 
wife  was  Cornelia  Patton,  of  Philadelphia,  a  sister  of  Rev.  Dr.  William 
Patton,  of  New  Haven,  Conn.,  who  once  held  a  Congregational  Church  in 
New  York  City. 

Hugh  Mearns  was  an  esteemed  Elder  at  Neshaminy  who  died  in  1857 
"much  lamented." 

Rev.  Azariah  Prior,  son  of  Gideon  Prior,  was  a  Neshaminy  boy.  He 
learned  printing  in  Philadelphia,  but  in  1826  graduated  at  Jefferson  College, 
under  the  presidency  of  Rev.  Dr.  Matthew  Brown.  He  had  charge  of  the 
Academy  at  Easton,  Pa.,  for  a  year,  then  studied  law  with  Judge  Joel  Jones. 
He  afterward  became  a  Presbyterian  minister,  having  charge  of  the  Lower 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  295 

Mount  Bethel  Church,  N.  J.,  and  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  South- 
wark,  Philadelphia.  He  then  entered  the  Episcopal  Church,  being  ordained 
Deacon  and  Priest  by  Bishop  Onderdonk.  He  was  Rector  of  St.  David's 
Church,  Manayunk,  where  he  was  very  successful.  He  afterward  assumed 
the  care  of  a  Female  Seminary  in  Pottsville,  and  of  St.  James's  Church, 
Schuylkill  Haven,  four  miles  distant.  He,  in  five  years  gave  up  the  school  in 
failing  health  but  added  two  missions  to  his  church  work,  though  these 
positions  were  afterward  resigned,  and  when  over  seventy  lie  was  employed 
in  laboring  in  St.  John's  Chapel  in  Pottsville.  His  wife  was  Isabella  Adams, 
a  lady  of  education  and  refinement. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Jacob  Belville  was  born  in  1820,  and  was  the  son  of  one  of 
the  pastors  of  Neshaminy  Church.  He  was  for  ten  years  pastor  of  the  Harts- 
ville  Presbyterian  Church.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Princeton  College  and 
Theological  Seminary,  and  had  held  parishes  in  Phcenixville,  Pa.,  and  in 
Maryland.  The  Hartsville  Church  withdrew  from  Neshaminy  Church  in 
1838  and  Mr.  Belville  assumed  its  care  in  1849.  In  1850,  with  Mrs.  McElroy 
he  started  Roseland  Female  Seminary  in  the  beautiful  place  near  the  church, 
which  Rev.  James  P.  Wilson,  Jr.  had  once  owned.  After  leaving  Hartsville 
he  was  in  Holmesburg,  Maucli  Chunk  and  Pottsville.  The  school  building 
and  lawn  are  attractive,  and  it  was  a  pleasant  home  for  the  pupils.  Harts- 
ville used  to  be  famed  for  its  schools  from  the  days  of  the  Log  College. 

Rev.  John  L.  Belville  was  born  at  or  near  New  Castle,  Delaware,  1801. 
He  studied  with  his  brother  at  Neshaminy,  and  married  Elizabeth  Long. 
He  became  a  pastor  at  Bellefontaine,  Ohio,  and  elsewhere,  and  in  advanced 
years  lived  among  his  children  in  Dayton,  two  of  whom  were  lawyers. 

Rev.  Belville  Roberts  was  a  native  of  Warrington.  His  father,  Jonathan 
Roberts,  was  an  elder  at  Neshaminy,  but  died  before  the  son  was  five  years 
old,  though  the  lad  could  remember  his  custom  of  family  prayer,  continued 
by  his  pious  mother,  after  the  father's  death.  The  young  man  went  to 
Michigan,  and  by  severe  toil  and  close  economy  was  able  to  graduate  at  the 
University  of  Michigan,  at  Ann  Arbor.  He  then  passed  his  course  of  study 
in  the  Union  Theological  Seminary,  in  New  York  City.  He  labored  with 
success  in  the  ministry  in  Stillwater  and  Rochester  in  New  York,  and 
Freeport,  Illinois,  and  Wheeling  West  Virginia,  and  Norristown,  Pa.,  in  a 
parish  which  was  moved  to  Bridgeport  across  the  Schuylkill  River. 

Robert  C.  Belville,  a  son  of  the  Rev.  R.  B.  Belville,  was  Clerk  of  the 
Court  of  Mercer  County,  N.  J.,  and  of  the  United  States  District  Court.  He 
was  a  man  of  high  reputation.  His  son  William  Belville  succeeded  him  in 
clerkship  of  the  United  States  Court. 

The  Rev.  R.  B.  Belville  was  an  eloquent  man  with  an  imagination  and 
emotion  which  vivified  his  language.  Heart,  mind  and  conscience  owned 
his  sway.  His  sympathy  comforted  his  people  in  affliction.  His  health 
being  poor.  Rev.  George  Ely  performed  his  duties  in  the  summer  of  1838. 
He  married  Catharine  Belville,  the  daughter  of  the  pastor.     In  1838  Mr. 


296  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Belville  resigned,  to  the  regret  of  his  congregation.  In  1839  he  "sold  his 
farm  to  Capt.  Charles  Dixey,  of  Philadelphia."  He  moved  to  Lancaster 
County,  Pa.,  and  thence  to  St.  George's,  Delaware.  In  1845  he  was  a  Com- 
missioner to  the  General  Assembly,  at  Cincinnati,  but  died  while  visiting 
relatives  at  Dayton,  at  the  age  of  fifty-five.  He  was  buried  at  Dayton.  His 
epitaph  notes  that  ''he  was  25  years  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Neshaminy.  *  *  Beloved  and  eminently  useful  among  the  people  of  his 
charge."  It  closes  thus :  "  The  pen  of  inspiration  has  written  his  epitaph  : 
*  Blessed  are  the  dead,  who  die  in  the  Lord.'  " 

In  1839  Rev.  Dr.  James  P.  Wilson,  Jr.,  became  pastor  of  Neshaminy 
Church.  When  the  parishes  separated,  the  church  property  was  sold,  and  the 
Hartsville  congregation  received  half  of  the  amount,  and  funds  at  interest 
were  divided.  In  1842  the  Old  School  parish  built  a  stone  church  of  neat 
appearance  in  Hartsville.  The  site  struck  me  as  a  beautiful  one,  and  the 
hills  in  view  from  the  graveyard  make  it  a  sweet  spot  to  lay  away  the  dead 
amid  the  glorious  marks  of  the  handiwork  of  God  where  they  may  await  a 
resurrection  through  Christ's  power,  to  the  new  heavens  and  new  earth  of 
righteousness  promised  in  the  unfailing  word  of  God.  Rev.  Thomas  B. 
Bradford,  Rev.  Henry  R.  Wilson,  D.  D.,  Sr.,  Rev.  Jacob  Belville,  Rev.  A.  M. 
Woods,  Rev.  G.  H.  Nimmo,  and  Rev.  John  McCluskey,  D.  D.,  have  served 
this  parish. 

In  1842  Neshaminy  Church  was  renovated.  Gothic  windows  replaced 
the  Square  ones,  and  various  improvements  were  made.  The  church 
membership  was  increased  in  Dr.  Wilson's  pastorship,  as  the  Holy  Spirit  in 
1840  and  1845  called  many  to  a  new  life  in  Christ.  Rev.  Drs.  E.  S.  Ely  and 
Joel  Parker  assisted  the  pastor  in  special  services  in  1845.  The  pastor  stated 
that  those  newly  interested  in  Christian  life  were  at  once  set  to  work  to 
influence  others,  and  family  prayer  was  enjoined  as  a  constant  means  of 
grace. 

Dr.  Wilson  resigned  this  church  to  become  president  of  Delaware  College, 
at  Newark,  Delaware.  He  was  afterward  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
in  Northern  Liberties,  Philadelphia,  and  then  became  Professor  of  Theology 
in  Union  Theological  Seminary,  New  York.  Thence  he  went,  after  three 
years,  to  the  pastorship  of  South  Park  Presbyterian  Church,  Newark,  N.  J. 

Joseph  Hart,  was  the  son  of  .Col.  William  Hart,  and  was  born  at  Harts- 
ville in  1792.  He  was  Deputy  Clerk  of  the  Orphans'  Court  of  Bucks  County. 
His  wife  was  Mary  Carr.  He  was  a  merchant  in  Philadelphia,  but  returned 
to  his  childhood's  home,  and  oversaw  his  farm.  He  was  a  trustee  in 
Neshaminy  Church,  and  its  treasurer.  He  bequeathed  money  to  aid  in 
making  a  sidewalk  from  Hartsville  to  the  church,  and  to  erect  a  marble  slab 
to  commemorate  the  history  of  the  church  and  its  pastors.  "  He  died 
November  4,  1872,  aged  82  years." 

Another  trustee  was  William  Carr,  "born  in  Warwick,  September  12, 
1789.     He  was  appointed  by  Governor  Wolff,  clerk  of  the  Orphans'  Court,  and 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  299 

lived  in  Doylestown  some  time,  and  in  Philadelphia,  and  in  Allentown,  Pa., 
where  he  died  March  10,  1872,  in  the  83d  year  of  his  age."  He  was  faithful 
in  his  trusts,  and  well  informed,  especially  in  local  history.  He  kept  up  his 
interest  in  the  church  "  and  among  his  latest  acts  "  sent  a  donation  from 
Allentown  to  aid  in  repairing  the  church  where  he  had  worshiped. 

Robert  Darrah,  son  of  James  Darrah,  and  grandson  of  the  Revolutionary 
Captain  Henry  Darrah,  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812,  "  He  married  Miss 
Catharine  Gait."  He  erected  a  school  house  on  his  own  place,  and  "  in 
connection  with  Joseph  Hart  and  others  procured  teachers  from  New  England 
or  the  vicinity.  He  was  a  trustee  of  Neshaminy  Church,  and  aided  it 
liberally.     He  died  August  5,  1860,  aged  70  years." 

Dr.  James  S.  Rich  was  born  in  1795.  He  was  a  physician  near  Doyles- 
town, and  at  the  Lazaretto,  and  at  Churchville.  He  was  admitted  as  a  member 
of  the  Central  Presbyterian  Church,  Philadelphia,  under  Rev.  Anson  Rood, 
but  in  1846  became  a  member  of  Neshaminy  Church.  He  died  March  8, 
1875,  aged  eighty.  Dr.  Turner  adds :  "  A  noble  man  was  removed  when  his 
spirit  took  its  flight." 

James  A.  Darrah  was  the  son  of  Robert  Darrah.  He  was  under  the 
pastoral  care  of  Dr.  Wilson.  He  became  a  Presbyterian  clergyman.  His 
birthplace  was  Warminster,  on  the  former  property  of  Rev.  Charles  Beatty. 
The  date  of  his  birth  was  1821.  He  graduated  at  Princeton,  in  1840,  studied 
law  under  Judge  Fox,  in  Doylestown,  '^and  was  admitted  to  the  bar."  He, 
however,  felt  it  a  duty  to  enter  the  ministry,  and  studied  at  the  Theological 
Seminary  of  Yale  College.  He  became  a  missionary  near  Winchester,  Vir- 
ginia, and  afterward  went  to  Missouri,  where  he  supplied  the  church  at  Rock- 
hill,  near  St.  Louis,  and  was  Principal  of  the  Preparatory  Department  of 
Webster  College,  named  in  honor  of  Daniel  Webster.  He  worked  here  nine 
years  witli  success,  and  then  for  a  short  time  supplied  a  church  in  Troy, 
Illinois,  and  then  took  the  pastorate  of  a  church  in  West  Ely,  Missouri,  where, 
after  the  death  of  Rev.  Ezra  Stiles  Ely,  D.  D.,  he  bought  the  house  which 
was  one  of  those  built  for  the  Professor  of  a  Theological  Seminary  the  Doctor 
"  attempted  to  establish." 

Benjamin  Franklin  Wright  was  a  native  of  Warrington,  having  been 
born  August  30,  1808.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Common  Council  of  Phila- 
delphia, and  a  Building  Inspector.  Having  a  family  interest  in  the  grave- 
yard at  Neshaminy  he  took  an  interest  in  the  building  of  the  chapel  in  1871. 
He  died  March  6,  1876,  in  his  68th  year,  and  was  buried  in  the  Neshaminy 
churchyard. 

George  W.  Hart  was  the  "  son  of  John  and  Mary  Hart,  of  Warminster." 
He  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1847,  and  was  an  excellent  scholar.  He 
travelled  in  "  California,  Australia,  China  and  other  regions,"  and  then  became 
a  merchant  in  Philadelphia. 

The  family  of  Robert  McKinstry,  Sr.,  were  useful  members  of  Neshaminy 
parish.     Five  sons,  John,  Robert,  Nathan,  James  and  Henry,  and  a  daughter 


300  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Jane,  were  communicants  of  this  church,  John  was  a  trustee,  and  Nathan  and 
Henry  were  elders.  A  brother  named  William  lived  in  Ohio.  "  All  the 
children  of  the  elder  Robert  McKinstry  were  associated  with  the  people  of 
God,  and  honored  the  Christian  profession."  A  noble  record ;  would  there 
were  many  more  like  it.  For  many  years  in  the  houses  of  Nathan  and  John, 
partly  by  reason  "of  the  feeble  health  of  some  of  the  members  of  the  family," 
services  were  held  on  weekday  evenings  for  "  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  or 
more."  Drs.  Wilson  and  Turner  officiated  at  these  "  sweet  seasons  of  refresh- 
ing contemplation  of  divine  truth  and  communion  with  God  and  his  friends." 
A  son  of  Nathan  became  an  elder  in  Ohio.  The  family  mainly  sustained  a 
Sunday  School  in  the  County  Line  School  House  for  over  a  generation.  Dr. 
Turner  well  adds:  "The  Lord  remembers  mercy  toward  them  that  fear 
Him,  and  to  their  children's  children." 

In  1848  Rev.  Douglas  K.  Turner,  D.  D.,  succeeded  Rev.  Dr.  Wilson  as 
pastor  at  Neshaminy.  Rev.  John  Patton,  of  Philadelphia,  presided  at  the 
election,  and  George  Jamison  was  secretary.  Dr.  Turner  "  was  born  in  Stock- 
bridge,  Mass.,  December  17,  1823,  but  resided  most  of  the  years  of  his  youth 
with  his  parents  in  Hartford,  Conn.  He  graduated  at  Yale  College,  New 
Haven,  Conn.,  in  1843,  and  after  teaching  a  year  in  Hartford,  studied 
Theology  in  the  Theologicial  Seminaries  of  Andover,  Mass.,  and  in  New 
Haven,  Conn.  He  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Hampden  East  Congre- 
gational Association  of  Massachusetts  in  1846,  and  in  the  autumn  of  the  same 
year  came  to  Neshaminy  to  teach  a  classical  and  select  school.  He  was 
engaged  in  this  position  about  eighteen  months,  when  he  was  elected  to  the 
pastorate  of  the  church." 

The  church  was  under  the  Fourth  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia.  Rev. 
Albert  Barnes  preached  the  sermon  at  Dr.  Turner's  ordination  and  installa- 
tion April  12,  A.  D.  1848.  Rev.  Dr.  David  Malin  was  moderator.  The  Rev. 
Messrs.  C.  S.  Conkling,  Samuel  M.  Gould  and  Joel  Parker,  D.  D.  took  part  in 
the  services.  October  15,  1848,  Henry  McKinstry  and  John  McNair  were 
ordained  "ruling  elders."  Dr.  Wilson  had  a  school  house  on  his  grounds 
where  he  conducted  a  classical  school  which  was  used  for  a  lecture  room,  but 
when  his  property  was  sold  Mr.  Thomas  Bird  gave  a  lot  in  Hartsville,  and  a 
lecture  room  was  built  there  of  stone.  Mrs.  Bird  and  other  ladies  assisted  in 
raising  funds  for  the  good  work.  She  afterwards  became  the  wife  of  Rev.  Dr. 
William  Patton,  of  New  Haven,  Conn. 

A  log  school  house  formerly  stood  near  Neshaminy  Church.  It  was 
replaced  by  a  stone  one.  "  A.  Prior,  Mahlon  Long,  Samuel  Hart  and  Miss 
Caroline  Downer,  afterwards  Mrs.  C.  Whiting,  wife  of  Timothy  Whiting," 
taught  here.  "  This  lady  being  a  sweet  singer,  instructed  her  pupils  in  vocal 
music  as  well  as  other  branches.  From  this  school  house  a  wall  extended  in 
a  westerly  direction  to  the  Bristol  Road  enclosing  the  burying  ground  on  the 
south  side."  A  piece  of  open  land  adjoining  contained  posts  for  hitching 
horses   "  at  funerals."     In  1852   this   was  enclosed   by  a  new   wall.     John 


THP]  YORK  ROAD.  303 

C.  Beans,  Robert  Darrah  and  Joseph  Hart  were  tlie  committee  to  rebuild  the 
graveyard  wall,  and  take  in  the  new  ground. 

The  leaders  in  singing  used  to  sit  before  the  congregation  "  in  front  of 
the  pulpit."  Among  those  who  led  ''the  service  of  song  in  the  House  of  the 
Lord "  and  *'  set  the  tunes "  were,  "  John  Weir,  John  Jamison,  Frederick 
Hoover,  William  Kneedler  and  Joseph  Carr." 

In  1861,  when  the  Fourth  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  met  at  Neshaminy 
"  near  the  graves  of  Rev.  William  Tennent,  Rev.  Nathaniel  Irwin,  Rev. 
Francis  McHenry,  Rev.  Alexander  Gellatly  and  Rev.  Dr.  James  P.  Wilson, 
once  eminent  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  addresses  were  made  by  Rev. 
Albert  Barnes,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  Brainerd."  "  Prayer  was  offered  that 
the  blessing  of  the  God  of  our  fathers  might  rest  upon  us,  their  descendants." 

In  1872  the  Cemetery  Chapel  was  dedicated.  Rev.  Dr.  Turner,  and  Rev. 
Dr.  Thomas  Murphy,  of  Frankford,  and  Col.  James  Ross  Snowden  made 
addresses.  Mrs.  R.  H.  Turner  and  Miss  Ann  Eliza  Long  had  left  legacies  to 
aid  in  erecting  this  building. 

Various  Sunday  Schools  in  school  houses  have  been  carried  on  by  this 
parish.  For  several  years  one  was  kept  up  in  Amity  School  House  in  the 
township  of  Moreland,  in  Montgomery  County,  superintended  by  John 
Bothwell,  a  member  of  this  church,  and  some  of  the  teachers  belonged  to  this 
working  congregation. 

Hartsville  has  had  famous  schools,  and  in  1850  an  excellent  boarding 
and  day  school  was  started  near  Neshaminy  Church.  The  principal  and 
most  of  the  scholars  sat  in  "  the  south  side  of  the  gallery  "  at  service. 

One  of  the  founders  of  the  school  was  Rev.  Mahlon  Long.  He  "  was  born 
in  Warminster,  March  6,  1809,  being  the  son  of  Hugh  and  Mary  Long."  His 
father  was  a  farmer.  Like  Cincinnatus,  he  was  called  while  ploughing,  to 
take  "  the  school  house  at  the  graveyard  "  under  his  care.  He  became  a 
clerk  in  the  Doylestown  Bank,  of  Bucks  County,  but  entered  Princeton 
College,  graduating  in  1839.  He  studied  theology  in  New  Haven,  Conn. 
He  was  principal  of  the  Harrisburg  Academy  where  his  work  prospered. 
With  his  brother.  Professor  Charles  Long,  of  Delaware  College,  he  established 
*'  Tennent  School."  The  house  was  large  and  the  site  a  fine  one,  and  success 
was  attained.  Judge  H.  P.  Ross,  Prof.  Macy,  Rev.  S.  M,  Freeland,  Dr. 
Ashurst,  Rev.  William  Hutchinson,  tutor  at  Yale  College,  George  Ross,  Esq., 
and  William  Stuckert,  Esq.,  were  among  the  pupils.  In  1869,  some  years 
after  his  brother's  death,  Mr.  Long  gave  up  the  school  and  sold  the  place  to 
M.  Denman  Wilbur,  Esq.  He  afterward  lived  in  Philadelphia,  and  in 
Bergner,  N.  J.  He  married  Mrs.  Catharine  Ely,  who  was  the  daughter  of 
Rev.  R.  B.  Belville,  and  widow  of  Rev.  George  Ely.  The  College  of  New 
Jersey  gave  him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy. 

"  Professor  Charles  Long  was  born  in  Warminster  township,  March  11, 
1818."  He  graduated  at  Yale  College,  standing  high  in  his  class,  where  he  in 
time  became  a  tutor,  and  studied  theology  under  Rev.  Dr.  N.  W.  Taylor  and 


304  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Professors  Gibbs,  E.  T.  Fitch  and  C.  Goodrich,  though  he  did  not  enter  the 
ministry.  He  was  Professor  of  Ancient  Languages  in  Delaware  College  under 
the  presidency  of  Rev.  Dr.  James  P.  Wilson,  Jr.  At  Neshaminy  he  stimu- 
lated the  pupils  and  encouraged  them  to  labor.  He  died  in  1856,  "  in  the 
blessed  hope  of  the  gospel,  aged  38  years ;  and  his  remains  lie  entombed  in 
the  cemetery  of  Neshaminy  Church."     He  was  a  man  of  talent  and  power. 

Dr.  Turner  notes  the  following  heroes  in  the  Southern  war :  Sergeant 
Harman  Y.  Beans  of  Neshaminy  Church,  was  a  farmer's  son,  who  volunteered 
in  the  First  New  Jersey  Cavalry  under  Capt.  J.  Shelmire.  He  was  in  many 
battles,  "  and  was  mortally  wounded  "  in  battle  at  Hanovertown,  Va.,  May 
28,  1864.  An  attempt  was  made  to  carry  him  to  a  Philadelphia  hospital, 
but,  as  strength  failed  he  was  taken  to  a  Baltimore  hospital,  and  died  there, 
June  12,  1864,  at  the  age  of  thirty-two.  He  was  highly  esteemed  as  a  cour- 
ageous and  dutiful  soldier  and  a  God-fearing  man,  and  did  not  neglect 
prayer  in  his  tent,  while  his  Bible  was  marked  by  the  names  of  places  where 
passages  had  been  read.  Such  a  man  conquers  in  death,  and  enters  into 
everlasting  life  funder  the  leadership  of  Christ,  the  Captain  of  his  salvation. 

Sergeant  Major  Cephas  Ross  joined  Company  A,  First  New  Jersey 
Cavalry  in  August,  1861,  and  saw  many  battles.  A  kind  Providence  pre- 
served his  life,  and  he  received  but  slight  wounds.  He  became  an  elder  in 
Neshaminy  Church. 

Lieutenant  John  Lewis  Widdifield  was  Second  Lieutenant  in  Company 
C,  128th  Regiment  P.  V.  Samuel  Croasdale  was  Captain,  Cephas  Dyer,  First 
Lieutenant,  and  R.  Henderson  Darrah,  Orderly  Sergeant.  Lieutenant 
Widdifield  was  wounded  at  Antietam.  He  was  promoted  to  the  First  Lieu- 
tenancy, and  would  have  become  a  Captain  if  the  wound  had  not  "  obliged 
him  to  resign  his  commission,"  which  he  did  reluctantly.  After  the  war  he 
lived  in  Philadelphia  and  Hartsville. 

Lieutenant  R.  H.  Darrah  was  the  great-grandson  of  Captain  Darrah  of 
the  Revolution,  and  his  father  was  a  soldier  in  the  last  war  with  England. 
Young  Darrah  joined  the  128th  Regiment  of  Pennsylvania  Volunteers  Com- 
pany C,  in  1862,  as  Orderly  Sergeant.  He  was  promoted  as  Second  and  then 
First  Lieutenant,  and  had  the  responsibility  of  a  Captain  in  the  winter  of 
1862-3.  He  was  also  in  the  force  to  defend  the  State  in  1863,  after  his  Regi- 
ment had  been  disbanded.     He  became  an  elder  of  Neshaminy  Church, 

Dr.  Byron  Hart  graduated  at  Yale  College,  having  been  prepared  for 
college  by  Dr.  Turner  and  Charles  Stone.  He  studied  medicine  under  Prof. 
John  H.  Mitchell  and  at  Jefferson  Medical  College.  He  "  married  Miss  Ella 
J.  Levine,  of  Philadelphia,  and  engaged  in  the  practice  of  medicine  and 
surgery  in  that  city." 

He  became  Assistant  Surgeon  in  the  Army  Hospital  at  Broad  and 
Cherry  Streets.  His  kindness  and  faithfulness  induced  the  grateful  patients 
to  present  him  a  silver  service.  He  went  to  Beaufort,  S.  C,  taking  charge  of 
Hospital  No.  12  under  a  physician  of  the  regular  army,  who  left  it  almost  entirely 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  305 

in  his  care.  He  was  also  at  Hilton  Head,  and  a  watch  and  chain  presented 
by  the  officers  and  soldiers  attested  their  appreciation  of  his  faithful  work. 
He  overworked  himself  at  his  laborious  post,  and  was  obliged  to  return 
Northward,  but  died  after  reaching  New  York  at  his  brother-in-law's  house, 
(Mr.  Sawyer),  October  7,  1864.  His  funeral  was  at  the  house  of  Joseph  Hart, 
his  father,  and  he  was  buried  at  Neshaminy  churchyard. 

Colonel  Samuel  Croasdale  was  a  native  of  Warminster,  having  been  born 
"  near  Hartsville,  August  22,  1837."  His  mother  was  Mrs.  Sarah  Croasdale,  a 
member  of  Neshaminy  Church,  where  the  son  attended  service  in  youth, 
though  he  lived  in  Doylestown  two  or  three  years  before  his  death.  He 
studied  at  Tennent  school,  under  the  Longs,  and  pursued  the  study  of  Greek 
under  Dr.  Turner,  becoming  a  good  Greek  and  Latin  scholar,  though  he 
excelled  in  mathematics  and  surveying.  His  father,  William  Croasdale  was 
a  skilful  "  worker  in  iron."  His  uncle,  Samuel  Hart,  Esq.,  was  "  a  superior 
surveyor.  Miss  Elizabeth  Croasdale,  a  sister  of  Colonel  Croasdale,  is  the 
accomplished  principal  of  the  School  of  Design  for  Women  in  Philadelphia." 

Samuel  Croasdale  studied  law  with  George  Hart,  Esq.,  at  Doylestown, 
also  practising  conveyancing  and  surveying  skilfully.  He  began  to  practice 
law  in  1860. 

In  the  Southern  War  he  joined  a  Company  under  Captain  (afterwards 
General)  W.  W.  H.  Davis,  Company  C,  128th  Regiment,  Pennsylvania  Volun- 
teers, in  1862.  In  a  few  days  the  colonelcy  was  vacant  and  George  Lear,  Esq., 
of  Doylestown  and  Governor  Curtin  corresponded  about  Captain  Croasdale, 
and  he  was  commissioned  August  25,  1862  to  the  post  when  "  only  three  days 
more  than  25  years  old.  "  He  did  not  expect  or  solicit  the  place.  At  Antie- 
tam  a  sharp  shooter's  rifle  killed  him  as  he  sat  on  his  horse.  His  funeral 
took  place  at  his  father's  house  in  Hartsville,  where  many  assembled  on  Sep- 
tember 22d,  1862.     He  was  buried  in  Doylestown  Cemetery. 

Major  James  H.  Hart  was  the  son  of  John  and  Mary  Hart,  born  in  War- 
minster in  1821.  His  mother  being  a  member  of  Neshaminy  Church,  he 
attended  its  services.  In  1861  he  volunteered  in  "  Company  A,  1st  N.  J. 
Cavalry,  Colonel  Halstead,  and  joined  it  as  Lieutenant,  under  Captain  Shel- 
mire.  On  the  promotion  of  the  latter  to  be  Major,  he  was  promoted  to  the 
command  of  the  Company. "  He  proved  a  brave  officer  and  "  remarkably 
cool  and  collected  "  in  danger.  He  was  in  various  battles;  and  for  courage 
and  services  was  made  Major  "  and  was  brevetted  Major  of  the  U.  S.  Army. " 
He  was  fatally  wounded  "  at  Stoney  Creek,  Va.,  in  March  1865.  "  He  "  soon 
died.  "  His  large  funeral  took  place  at  Southampton  Baptist  Church,  in 
Bucks  County,  where  "  a  handsome  monument "  marks  his  tomb,  and  notes  his 
battles.     He  died  in  his  45th  year.     The  epitaph  runs : 

"  Soldier,  Citizen,  Husband,  Father.  No  one  more  brave,  upright,  affec- 
tionate and  kind.     His  country  asked  his  service ;  he  gave  his  life.  " 

Dr.  Turner  adds  the  following  names  of  those  who  served  in  the  Southern 
War  from  the  church  and  congregation  of  Neshaminy. 
20 


306  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

"  Of  the  104th  Regiment,  Pennsylvania  Volunteers  under  Col.  W.  W.  H. 
Davis.  Charles  Arnell,  died  and  buried  in  Hampton,  Va.,  in  the  autumn  of 
1861.  William  Raisner  served  also  in  the  31st  Regiment  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Militia.  Isaac  Holcomb,  John  Eckart,  and  Lieutenant  James  M.  Fox  went 
from  the  Reformed  Church  of  North  and  Southampton ;  now  belongs  to 
Neshaminy.  George  Hare,  William  Hare  and  John  Walton,  of  the  1st 
Regiment,  New  Jersey  Cavalry,  under  Colonel  Halstead.  Washington  Raisner, 
of  the  128th  Regiment,  Pennsylvania  Volunteers.  Samuel  Morgan,  Henry 
Long  and  John  Lewis  and  George  Lewis  of  the  31st  Regiment,  Pennsylvania 
Militia,  in  the  Emergency,  1863.  Charles  Meredith,  Leonard  Laverell  and 
Jesse  Ewer.  Drafted  Men.  Jesse  Selzer,  Wilson  Brady,  William  McKinstry, 
George  Arnell,  served  in  an  Illinois  Regiment.  James  Wallace  went  in 
Captain  Kimble's  Company  from  Hatborough,  June,  1861." 

"  Dr.  William  E.  Doughty,  went  out  from  Philadelphia  twice.  In  Company 
C,  17th  Regiment,  Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  and  in  Company  D,  45th  Regi- 
ment, Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  First  Union  League  Brigade.  He  was  posted 
at  Odd  Fellows  Cemetery  at  the  Battle  of  Gettysburg." 

A  list  of  Captain  Henry  Darrah's  Militia  Company,  under  Col.  William 
Roberts,  of  Bucks  County,  September  21,  1778,  is  given  on  pages  323  and  324 
of  Dr.  Turner's  book.  The  original  Company  Rolls  of  Revolutionary  days 
were  possessed  by  R.  H.  Darrah,  in  Hartsville,  "a  great-grandson  of  the 
Captain. " 

In  1873  Dr.  Turner  resigned  the  charge  of  Neshaminy  Church  "  on 
account  of  impaired  health.  "  The  parish  regretted  the  loss  of  their  faithful 
pastor,  who  still  lives  among  them.  They  wished  him  to  retain  his  post  and 
testified  to  his  zealous  Christian  work  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  during  which 
his  pious  character  had  commended  him  to  his  people  and  his  clerical 
brethren.  Stacy  B.  Beans  and  George  Jamison  signed  the  resolutions.  Mr. 
George  Ramsey,  a  Trustee,  and  also  being  Treasurer,  was  delegated  to  go  with 
Elder  Cephas  Ross,  to  bear  this  action  to  the  Presbyter}^  at  Pottstown.  Rev. 
Dr.  J.  H.  M.  Knox,  afterward  President  of  Lafayette  College,  was  appointed  to 
preach  and  declare  the  vacancy.  The  retiring  pastor  and  various  clergy  sup- 
plied the  parish.  Rev.  T.  Darlington  Jester  remaining  two  months  as  a  supply, 
being  a  graduate  of  Union  Theological  Seminary,  New  York,  commended  by 
Prof.  H.  B.  Smith. 

A  parsonage  was  secured.  Rev.  Wm.  Evan  Jones  of  Tuscarora,  Living- 
ston County,  N.  Y.  was  chosen  pastor  in  1873.  He  graduated  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania  in  1850,  and  at  Princeton  Theological  Seminary  in 
1853.  He  was  a  Chaplain  in  the  Southern  War,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  Grier  Ralson 
presided  at  the  installation.  Rev.  Dr.  Roger  Owen  or  Rev.  H.  T.  Ford,  as 
alternate  were  selected  as  preachers.  Mr.  Ford  performed  the  duty.  It  was 
a  pleasant  day  and  the  attendance  was  large.  Dr.  Turner  gave  the  charge  to 
the  pastor,  and  Dr.  Thomas  Murphy  that  to  the  people.  Many  were  brought 
into  communion  with  the  church  in  Mr.  Jones's  pastorate.     Rev.  Wm.  K. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  307 

Preston  is  the  present  pastor.  Rev.  Henry  I.  Nicholas  is  the  pastor  of  the 
Hartsville  Presbyterian  Church. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  at  Deep  Run  under  William  Tennent,  Sr.  and 
Francis  McHenry  and  Rev,  U.  Dubois,  who  preached  at  the  hamlet  which 
became  Doylestown,  was  connected  with  Neshaminy  Church  in  old  time, 
Rev.  Dr.  S.  M.  Andrews  afterward  long  and  faithfully  served  Doylestown,  and 
Rev.  Mr.  Patton  afterward  held  the  parish. 

Rev.  R.  B.  Belville  and  Rev.  R.  Steel,  of  Abington  once  held  services  in 
Hatborough. 

Rev.  Mr.  Belville  held  meetings  at  the  County  Line  school  house.  In 
1836  Rev.  Charles  Ewing  and  other  clergy  conducted  "  protracted  religious 
services  in  a  grove  near  Pleasantville, "  not  far  from  the  school  house,  and  a 
German  Reformed  Church  arose,  where  "  Rev.  W.  E.  Cornwell  and  Rev.  N. 
S.  Aller  and  other  faithful  servants  of  Christ  "  have  "accomplished  great  good." 
Some  of  the  Neshaminy  families  have  connected  themselves  with  this  parish. 
Frederick  Hoover  and  William  Kneedler  were  among  the  founders  of  this 
church.     Mr.  Kneedler  returned  to  Neshaminy  Church  in  1848. 

Rev.  Dr.  Turner  used  to  hold  occasional  services  near  Forestville,  and  the 
families  of  Joseph  Carver,  Sr.,  and  those  of  his  sons,  James,  Joseph,  Samuel, 
and  William  were  connected  with  Neshaminy  Church.  A  church  was  erected 
in  Forestville  A.  D.,  1855.  Rev.  H.  E.  Spayd  was  its  first  pastor,  holding  also 
Solebury  Church.  Rev.  J.  B.  Krusen  is  the  present  pastor.  Concord  and 
Bushington  Sunday  Schools  have  been  transferred  by  Neshaminy  Church  to 
the  Forestville  Church. 

Dr.  Turner  in  closing,  refers  to  God's  blessing  which  has  been  on  Nesham- 
iny Church  while  its  religious  people  have  followed  their  pious  ancestors,  who 
loved  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  were  guided  by  their  light.  We  can  echo  his 
final  thought :  "  This  church,  by  the  favor  of  Him  who  dwells  amid  the 
golden  candlesticks,  has  been  a  source  of  real  benefit  to  the  region  in  which 
it  is  established.     May  it  still  continue  thus  to  be  to  the  latest  posterity. '"' 

My  friend  Dr.  Turner  has  done  a  patient  work  with  his  New  England 
perseverance  in  writing  this  remarkable  book  which  is  a  liistor}'  of  the  neigh- 
borhood as  well  as  the  church.  His  wife  is  a  member  of  the  Darrah  family, 
and  his  long  residence  at  Hartsville  fitted  him  for  his  toilsome  task.  I  know 
no  other  volume  which  tells  so  much  of  this  section,  and  as  it  recounts  so  well 
the  religious  and  military  life  of  the  district  I  have  lingered  long  over  it,  and 
extracted  much  useful  information  from  it. 

WARMINSTER. 

General  Davis's  History  of  Bucks  County  was  published  by  the  author 
in  1876,  and  was  the  result  of  many  years  of  faithful  toil,  and  even  on  a  sick 
bed  the  patient  man  pursued  his  loved  work.  He  was  "  to  the  manor  born," 
and  w^as  writing  of  his  ancestral  people,  as  the  Harts  and  Da  vises,  and  of 


308  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

places  where  his  boyish  feet  had  trod,  and  it  is  little  wonder  that  he  brought 
enthusiasm  to  the  task  of  painting  scenes  which  had  enlivened  him  in  the 
fresh  spring  of  youth.  He  was  an  author,  and  in  other  works,  had  exercised 
his  pen,  and  his  western  experience,  and  war  life  and  newspaper  work  in  the 
Doylestown  Democrat,  had  given  him  a  know^ledge  of  men  and  things  invalu- 
able to  a  writer.  Then  my  friend  has  the  true  spirit  of  an  antiquary.  He 
has  the  critical  faculty  needed  to  throw  away  a  foolish  tradition  when  dates 
deny  its  chronology,  and  yet  he  does  not  show  vandalism  in  destroying  the 
moss  that  clings  on  an  old  wall.  His  mode  of  story-telling  is  attractive,  and 
one  seems  to  be  sitting  by  the  old  fashioned  fire-place  of  the  old  time  and 
watching  the  flaming  logs  as  the  narrator  tells  his  tales  of  the  early  days  of 
Pennsylvania  life,  stranger  than  the  fancies  of  the  novelist's  brain.  The  book 
ought  to  be  republished  to  stir  anew  an  interest  in  our  predecessors. 

We  cull  some  notes  from  Davis's  account  of  Warminster  township^  which 
lies  on  the  York  Road. 

The  Noble  family  were  early  settlers  here.  Richard  Noble  was  on  the 
Delaware  River  in  1675,  and  had  an  office  under  the  Duke  of  York.  He 
lived  in  Bristol  township,  "  above  the  mouth  of  the  Neshaminy,  and  was  a 
surveyor.  His  son  Abel  was  an  original  purchaser  in  Warminster,  where  he 
owned  six  hundred  and  ninety-five  acres  at  the  re-survey  in  1702.  The 
original  Noble  tract  lay  on  both  sides  of  the  York  Road,  that  on  the  upper 
side  running  up  the  County  Line,  and  not  reaching  the  Street  Road,  and 
that  on  the  lower  side  extending  down  it  to  within  half  a  mile  of  Johnsville." 

In  1743  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  acres  were  conveyed  by  Abel  Noble 
to  his  son  Joseph,  who  sold  the  tract,  with  a  few  added  acres,  to  Harman 
Yerkes  who  was  the  first  one  of  his  family  in  Warminster.  Abel  and  John 
Noble  were  "sons  of  the  first  purchaser,"  who  owned  much  land.  Job  used 
to  kindly  leave  grain  in  the  corners  of  the  fields  that  the  birds  might  get 
a  share.  "  At  the  family  mansion,  in  English  style,  w^ith  hip-roof,  on  the 
site  of  the  dwelling  of  the  late  Andrew  Yerkes,  on  the  York  Road,  he  built  a 
stone  apiary  with  the  back  to  the  road,  and  intended  to  have  cut  upon  it  the 
ten  commandments,  but  it  was  never  done." 

An  Irish  servant  in  his  employ  found  a  tortoise,  and  ran  in  hot  haste  to 
the  house,  reporting  that  he  had  discovered  "  a  snake  in  a  box."  Job  Noble 
died  in  1775.  One  of  his  two  daughters  **  married  a  Gilbert  and  the  other  a 
Moland."  The  burial  ground  of  the  Noble  family  "  is  below  the  York  Road, 
and  near  the  County  Line,  on  the  farm  now  owned  by  Justice  Mitchell,  on  a 
knoll  that  overlooks  a  meadow  in  front.  Half  a  dozen  graves,  with  a  few 
feet  of  the  old  wall,  are  all  that  mark  the  final  resting  place  of  these 
Warminster  pioneers." 

Bartholomew  Longstreth  was  "  the  son  of  Christopher,  born  in  Longstreth 
Dale,  Yorkshire,  England,  1679,  and  immigrated  to  Pennsylvania  in  1698." 
He  bought  300  acres  on  Edge  Hill,  but  sold  the  place,  intending  to  return 
to  England ;  but  afterward  bought  500  acres  from  "  Thomas  Fairman,  in 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  309 

Warminster,  for  £175,  and  came  into  the  township  to  live  in  1710.  This 
tract  lay  in  the  square  bounded  by  the  Bristol,  Street,  southern  line  of  town- 
ship, and  the  Johnsville  Roads.  He  added  to  his  acres  until  at  his  death  he 
owned  one  thousand." 

He  built  a  house  of  logs.  "  In  1727  he  married  Ann  Dawson  of  Hatboro, 
then  the  Crooked  Billet,  and  after  leading  a  useful  and  active  life  he  died  sud- 
denly, August  8th,  1749,  and  was  buried  at  Horsham,"  He  had  eleven 
children.  The  family  keeps  "the  metal  moulds  in  which  Bartholomew  run 
his  pewter  spoons,  like  other  farmers  of  that  day  and  have  also  the  iron  John 
Dawson  anciently  used  to  smooth  beaver  hats.  Bartholomew  Longstreth  was 
a  man  of  influence  in  his  generation.  He  first  opened  the  York  Road  from 
the  Neshaminy  down  to  Hatborough.  The  Longstreths  owned  land  in  other 
townships." 

Warminster  was  honored  as  the  residence  of  John  Fitch,  the  steamboat 
inventor,  whose  striking  story  General  Davis  tells  at  length  in  an  interesting 
manner.  Rev.  Dr.  D.  K.  Turner,  of  Hartsville,  also  read  an  instructive 
essay  on  Fitch  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Bucks  County  Historical  Society, 
under  the  Presidency  of  General  Davis,  which  met  in  the  summer  of  1889  at 
Davisville  Baptist  Church,  near  where  Fitch  experimented  on  a  pond  with 
his  model  steamer,  and  that  day  an  interesting  and  successful  experiment 
with  the  Binder  propellor  on  the  same  pond  linked  the  old  times  with  the 
new. 

A  graveyard  near  Johnsville,  on  the  former  Vansant  farm,  belonged  to 
that  family.  Early  settlers  from  Holland  are  buried  there,  including  the 
Cravens  and  Vandykes.  The  oldest  stone  is  that  of  "  Harman  Vansant,  who 
died  in  1769,  at  the  age  of  eighty-four,  and  Giles  Craven,  who  died  September 
8th,  1798,  in  his  eightieth  year.  A  handsome  marble  slab  is  erected  to  the 
memory  of  Doctor  William  Bachelor,  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  and  surgeon 
in  the  army  of  General  Gates,  who  died  September  14th,  1823,  aged  seventy- 
five  years.  His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Silas  Hart  of  Warminster.  Doctor 
Bachelor  lived  in  Hatborough  and  had  an  extensive  practice." 

So  love,  courtship  and  marriage  ran  on  in  the  old  days  and  New  England 
and  Pennsylvania  joined  hands  for  a  time,  and  then  unclasped  them  in  death 
as  John  Anderson  and  his  wife  climbed  the  hill  together  and  slumbered  at 
its  foot,  in  the  old  song. 

"  Johnsville,  at  the  junction  of  the  Newtown  and  Street  Roads,  had  its 
foundation  laid  in  1814,  when  James  Craven  built  a  storehouse  for  his  son 
John  on  the  only  corner  not  covered  with  native  forest  trees,  and  in  which  a 
store  is  still  kept.     It  took  its  name  from  John  Craven." 

This  is  a  pleasant  village,  not  far  from  the  Newtown  Railway,  and  I  have 
noticed  a  Friends'  Meeting  House  between  it  and  the  railway. 

Davis  informs  us  that  Robert  Beans's  agricultural  factory  was  burned 
here  "  and  not  re-built." 


310  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Warminster  township  is  traversed  by  the  York  Road,  which  "  was  more 
of  a^Pliiladelphia  Road  to  the  people  of  this  section."  (J.  H.  Battle's  History 
of  Bucks  County,  p.  501.) 

HARTSVILLE. 

Hartsville,  on  the  York  and  Bristol  Roads,  is  mainly  in  Warminster.  It 
was  formerly  known  as  "  Cross  Roads,"  but  took  its  present  name  from  the 
Hart  family  who  long  lived  there.  A  store,  tavern,  Presbyterian  Church  and 
hall  are  the  public  buildings.  The  store  is  the  property  of  T.  Willett 
Boileau,  now  merchandising  in  Bustleton.  He  kept  the  Hartsville  store  for 
several  years.     It  is  now  conducted  by  H.  M.  Kaisinger. " 

WARWICK. 

General  Davis  states  that  Hartsville  tavern,  in  Warwick,  was  long  kept 
by  William  Hart,  and  the  sign  was  "  the  human  heart."  "  He  died  in  1831, 
aged  eighty-four  years.  A  post-office  was  established  there  in  1826.  The  old 
stone  bridge  over  the  Neshaminy  on  the  York  Road,  above  the  village,  built 
in  1793,  had  a  heart  cut  on  the  date  stone." 

"  Thomas  Linter  petitioned  the  court  to  keep  a  public  house  in  1730." 

The  township  has  no  grist  mills,  as  its  surface  is  so  level  generally  that 
the  streams  have  tiot  size  and  fall  enough  to  drive  mills.  There  was  once  a 
saw-mill  on  Robert  Darrah's  farm,  "near  Hartsville,  but  now  long  out 
of  use." 

"Mary,  the  widow  of  Andrew  Long,  died  January  17,  1821,  aged  ninety- 
five  years,  and  John  Harvey  died  the  31st  of  the  same  month,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-seven." 

AVarminster  has  fertile  plains  which  reach  to  the  Neshaminy  hills,  and 
its  farmers  have  cultivated  their  grounds  well,  and  reap  the  rewards  of  their 
well-directed  toil. 

James  Clayton,  of  England,  is  given  by  Davis  as  an  original  purchaser 
of  real  estate  in  this  township,  having  taken  up  land  "  from  the  Northampton 
line,  or  thereabouts,  to  Jamison's  Corner."  John  Gray's  "  tract  covered  the 
Almshouse'  farm,  Henry  Bailey  had  land  about  Hartsville  and  Benjamin 
Twily,  in  the  vicinity  of  Jamison's  Corner."  James  Boyden  owned  "  from  the 
top  of  Carr's  Hill  down  to  Neshaminy  Church."  The  early  purchasers  here 
did  not  generally  settle  on  the  land. 

John  Snowden,  ancestor  of  Prothonotary  James  Ross  Snowden,  lived  at 
the  Forks  of  the  Neshaminy,  and  Rev.  Daniel  McCalla  w^as  an  eminent  and 
scholarly  son  of  Warwick  township,  a  "  chaplain  in  the  Continental  Army," 
head  of  an  academy  in  Mrginia,  and  successor  of  Rev.  Samuel  Davies  in  the 
parish.     He  had  a  high  reputation  as  a  j^reacher. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  311 

Dr.  John  Rodman  and  Thomas  Richardson  were  large  land  owners  here. 
William  and  John  Rodman  were  later  owners,  John  holding  property  "  on 
both  sides  of  the  Neshaminy  extending  from  below  Bridge  Valley  to  half  a 
mile  above  Bridge  Point.  The  Rodman  tract,  on  the  northeast,  at  some 
points,  was  bounded  by  the  road  leading  from  Doylestown  to  Wood's  Corner, 
on  the  York  Road  just  above  Bridge  Valley." 

Henry  Jamison,  the  ancestor  of  the  Jamison  family,  lived  in  North- 
ampton township,  but  owned  land  in  Warwick.  "  In  1734  Henry  Jamison 
conveyed  two  hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  land  lying  in  Warwick,  to  Robert 
Jamison,  and  the  remainder  to  his  other  children."  Robert  Jamison,  a  son 
of  Henry,  had  a  son  John  who  was  "  a  captain  in  the  Continental  Army,  who 
married  Martha,  sister  of  the  Reverend  James  Grier,  of  Deep  Run."  Robert, 
a  Revolutionary  soldier,  was  another  son ;  he  was  an  elder  of  Neshaminy 
Church.  His  brother  Henry  kept  Jamison's  tavern  at  Centreville  m  1767. 
Rev.  Nathaniel  Irwin's  first  wife  was  his  daughter. 

Warwick  township  was  first  called  Middlebury.  In  "1727  William 
Miller  was  appointed  overseer  of  the  York  Road  between  the  two  branches  of 
the  Neshaminy,  from  the  bridge  above  Hartsville  to  Bridge  Valley." 

In  "  1763  William  Rodman  and  his  wife  conveyed  to  Andrew  and 
Charles  McMicken,  Jr.,  of  Warwick,  one  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  land  in 
the  township,  lying  along  Neshaminy,  on  both  sides  of  the  York  Road,  for 
the  consideration  of  £817."  Charles  McMicken,  of  Cincinnati,  who  founded  a 
male  and  a  female  college  by  a  philanthropic  bequest,  "  was  a  member  of 
this  family." 

Joseph  Carr  "  settled  in  Warwick  in  1743."  The  stone  bridge  on  the 
York  Road  crossing  Neshaminy  Creek,  above  Hartsville,  was  erected  in  1755, 
and  succeeded  "  by  another  stone  bridge  in  1789  "  which  "  was  destroyed  by  a 
freshet "  several  years  ago.  The  date-stone  had  cut  upon  it  a  human  heart. 
The  present  bridge  is  an  open  wooden  one. 

Admiral  Dahlgreen  once  lived  on  Mr.  Ramsey's  farm  on  "  the  Bristol 
Road  half  a  mile  below  Hartsville."  He  owned  the  farm,  and  was  "  then  a 
lieutenant." 

Bridge  Valley  used  to  be  called  '"  Pettit's."  William  Harvey  was  the  first 
post-master  at  Bridge  Valley  in  1869.  Jacob  Taylor's  widow,  Mrs.  Phoebe 
Taylor  died  in  Warwick  over  ninety-nine  years  old.  She  was  the  daughter 
of  Jeremiah  and  Mary  Northrop. 

BUCKINGHAM. 

The  "  Vale  of  Lahaska,"  quoted  in  Davis's  History,  by  Samuel  Johnson, 
sweetly  and  simply  describes  this  beautiful  region  which  the  English  literary 
Doctor  of  the  same  name  might  have  painted  in  poetic  words  had  his  eyes 
looked  on  these  Pennsylvania  scenes.     The  American  poet  thus  sings : 


312  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

"  From  the  brow  of  Lahaska  wide  to  the  west, 

The  eye  sweetly  rests  on  the  landscape  below ; 
'Tis  blooming  as  Eden,  when  Eden  was  blest, 

As  the  sun  lights  its  charms  with  the  evening  glow." 

The  Buckingham  Mountain  is  said  to  have  had  the  Indian  name 
Lahaska. 

Durham  and  York  Roads  cut  through  Buckingham  township  intersecting 
at  Centreville. 

General  Davis  derives  Buckingham,  which  is  the  name  of  several  places 
in  England,  "  from  hecen,  the  beech-tree,  then  Becen-ham,  then  Bushing-ham, 
the  village  among  the  beeches,  and  lastly  Buckingham." 

In  1706  the  township  was  styled  "  New  Buckingham,  probably  to  dis- 
tinguish it  from  Bristol,  which  was  still  called  Buckingham." 

*'  Until  grain  enough  was  raised  to  support  the  pioneers  of  Buckingham 
and  Solebury  the  suppl}^  was  fetched  from  Falls  and  Middletown.  At  the 
time  Buckingham  was  first  settled  there  was  no  store  north  of  Bristol,  and 
grain  was  taken  to  Morris  Gwin's  mill,  on  the  Pennj^pack,  to  be  ground,  down 
to  1707." 

Amos  Preston  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  white  settler  in  Buckingham 
township,  but  it  is  not  certain  "  whether  he  was  actually  the  earliest  settler." 

Paul  Preston  was  a  descendant  of  this  family  who  "  became  a  fine  mathe- 
matician and  linguist,  studying  in  a  small  building  he  erected  off  from  his 
dwelling."  His  height  "  was  six  feet  six  and  three-quarter  inches."  He  was 
an  associate  of  Franklin,  who  held  him  in  high  estimation.  Samuel  Preston, 
"  the  first  associate-judge  in  AVayne  County,"  was  his  son. 

"  James  Streater,  of  Alsfre,  England,"  bought  a  tract  of  land  of  George 
Jackson  and  sold  it  to  Edmond  Kinsey  in  1714.  "  The  meeting-house  stands 
on  this  tract.  It  was  a  parallelogram  in  shape  and  lay  on  both  sides  of  the 
York  Road  from  the  township  line  to  about  Greenville."  Streater  was  a 
"  practitioner  in  physic"  and  a  grocer. 

In  1750  James  Cooper,  of  Buckingham,  married  Hannah  Hibbs,  "  the 
grandmother  of  James  Fenimore  Cooper,  who  thus  descends  of  a  Bucks 
County  family  in  the  maternal  line,"  though  the  Cooper  family  here  named 
"  is  not  identical  with  that  of  Cooper,  the  novelist." 

"  Charity  Bye,  daughter  of  Hezekiah  and  Sarah  Bye,  born  in  1780,  was 
the  mother  of  Governor  William  F.Johnston,"  so  Buckingham  had  the  honor 
of  being*  the  birth-place  of  the  mother  of  a  Governor. 

In  1704,  Thomas  Watson,  the  first  one  of  the  name,  who  married  Eleanor 
Pearson,  in  Yorkshire,  moved  "  to  Buckingham  on  four  hundred  and  fifty  acres 
bought  of  Rosill,  bounded  on  the  northwest  by  the  York  Road.  He  refused 
to  survey  the  tract  on  Penn's  warrant  without  consent  of  the  Indians."  He 
practiced  medicine,  and  it  is  said  that  he  kept  a  school  to  educate  the  Indians. 
His  son  John  became  a  successful  physician  and  a  member  of  Assembly. 
Thomas  was  the  eldest  son  of  the  senior  Thomas.     His  son,  John,  studied  at 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  313 

the  Academy  of  Jacob  Taylor,  in  Philadelphia,  and  became  eminent  as  a 
"  mathematician  and  surveyor,  and  assisted  to  run  the  line  between  Pennsyl- 
vania, Delaware  and  Maryland.     He  was  noted  for  his  elegant  penmanship." 

Jesse  Fell,  born  in  Buckingham,  in  1751,  first  successfully  burned 
"  anthracite  coal  in  a  grate,"  when  living  in  Wilkesbarre. 

William  Carver,  who  had  exchanged  a  By  berry  farm  with  Silas  AValmsley 
for  land  near  Bushington,  had  a  son  William,  being  his  eldest  son,  who 
"  married  a  daughter  of  Henry  Walmsley,  and  removed  to  Buckingham." 
*'  The  father  or  son  is  supposed  to  have  built  the  Green  Tree  Tavern,  at  Bush- 
ington." 

The  Buckingham  meeting-house  tract,  given  for  a  house  of  worship  by 
Streater  in  1705,  covered  ten  acres.  "  It  is  related  that  a  wild  deer  one  day, 
walked  into  the  old  meeting-house,  looked  around  at  the  people,  and  walked 
out  again." 

Dr.  John  Wilson,  of  Buckingham,  was  "  a  fine  surgeon,"  and  a  noted 
physician.  Louis  S.  Coryell,  who  understood  human  nature  and  knew  many 
men  of  note,  said  "Dr.  Wilson  knew  more,  from  a  potato  hill  up,  than  any 
man  I  ever  knew."  His  house  at  "  Elm  Grove  "  was  a  hospitable  mansion. 
George  G.  Maris  owns  the  place  which  Dr.  Wilson  bought  of  Samuel  Johnson. 

Dr.  Arthur  D.  Cernea,  a  partner  of  Dr.  Wilson,  had  a  romantic  history. 
He  was  the  son  of  French  parents  who  were  supposed  to  have  been  lost  at  sea, 
or  by  some  calamity,  as  they  purposed  to  visit  France  and  return,  leaving 
their  son  at  the- Moravian  School  at  Bethlehem.  At  an  early  age  he  endeav- 
ored to  support  himself,  meeting  with  kindness  from  Eleazar  Shaw,  of  Plum- 
stead,  who  made  him  an  inmate  of  his  family.  The  young  man  taught  school 
when  eighteen  years  old  in  the  "  eight-square  "  school  house  in  Plumstead, 
and  afterward  graduated  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  married 
Sarah  Lester,  of  Richland.  His  second  wife  was  Sarah  Taylor.  Pie  was  a 
botanist,  and  interested  in  the  Buckingham  lyceum.  After  Dr.  Wilson  died 
he  removed  to  Centreville.  His  son  Thomas  became  a  skilful  architect  in 
Philadelphia." 

General  Davis  thus  mentions  another  noteworthy  character :  "  Samuel 
Hanin,  a  distinguished,  self-taught  mathematician,  died  in  1820,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-six." 

A  black  man  called  "Big  Ben"  was  " a  noted  person  in  Buckingham. 
He  had  been  a  slave.  He  was  very  large,  "  and  his  foot  measured  sixteen 
inches  from  heel  to  toe." 

James  Jamison,  of  Buckingham,  deserves  notice  for  his  influence  more 
than  "  any  other  one  man  in  the  introduction  of  the  present  method  of  burn- 
ing lime  in  fixed  kilns,"  over  fifty  years  ago  by  using  alternate  layers  of  coal 
and  lime  with  wood  to  kindle  the  coal  underneath.  Wood  had  been  formerly 
used  but  this  improvement  lowered  "  the  cost  of  lime  about  one-half."  The 
Delaware  Division  Canal  brought  coal  which  stimulated  this  business,  but 
commercial  manures  have  diminished  it. 


314  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Mr.  Righter's  Centreville  tavern  "  has  been  a  famous  roadside  inn,  in  its 
day  and  generation,  and  it  numbers  considerably  more  than  a  century  of 
years.  Under  its  roof,  the  '  Bucks  County  Committee  of  Safety '  held  one  of 
its  earliest  meetings  in  1775,  and  in  it  General  Greene,  for  a  time,  had  his 
headquarters  during  one  of  the  most  trying  periods  of  the  Revolution. 
Buckingham  post-office  was  established  here  in  1805,  and  Cornelius  Vanhorne 
appointed  post-master." 

Greenville  was  called  "  Grintown,"  and  General  Davis  was  informed  that 
the  name  was  given  because  a  Jerseyman  having  trouble  here  by  the 
unmanageableness  of  a  flock'  of  geese  he  was  driving  to  Philadelphia  seeing 
the  villagers  at  their  doors  beholding  his  discomfort  with  amusement  cried 
out  "this  is  Grintown."  There  was  once  a  "female  boarding  school  of  some 
local  celebrity,"  m  Greenville. 

In  1722  the  largest  tax-payer  in  Buckingham  was  Richard  Humphrey 
Morris.     The  tax  was  £1,  3s,  9d,  for  1900  acres  of  land. 

On  the  line  of  the  farms  of  Benjamin  Smith  and  Amos  Carson  near 
Greenville  is  what  the  Indians  called  "  Holy-cong,"  and  the  later  name  has 
been  '' Conkey  Hole."  It  is  a  water-sink,  such  as  "are  common  in  limestone 
valleys."  The  water  rises  and  falls,  and  tradition  says  that  chaft'  put  in  here 
has  come  out  at  Ingham  Spring. 

"Grintown  Pond"  near  Greenville  was  the  swimming  place  of  the  boys 
years  ago.  "  Here  the  young  Elys,  Larges,  Gilberts,  Beanses,  Williamses, 
Joneses,  Parrys,  Linburgs,  Johnsons,  Byes,  Shaws,  Fells,  Il&llyers,  Watsons 
and  others  resorted  on  Saturday  evenings,  making  the  air  ring  with  their 
hilarity.  Many  horses  were  likewise  taken  there  to  be  washed,  and  every  one 
that  went  into  the  water  had  a  boy  on  his  back  and  another  hanging  on  his 
caudal  extremity."  Many  years  ago  a  boy  saved  the  life  of  a  companion  who 
was  in  danger  of  drowmng  here  by  diving  after  him,  and  dragging  him 
from  the  water  when  he  had  sunk  for  the  "  last  time." 

The  Mount  Gilead  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  had  a  log 
building  on  the  summit  of  Buckingham  Mountain  built  "  m  1835  and  1836^ 
and  re-built  of  stone  in  1852.  It  is  quite  a  snug  edifice,  and  near  by  is  a 
graveyard  enclosed  by  a  neat  pale  fence.  The  Orthodox  Friends'  meeting 
house  of  Buckingham  was  built  in  1830.  The  date  was  cut  by  Joseph  Fell 
on  a  stone  and  placed  in  the  front  wall." 

William  Simpson  was  a  Revolutionary  soldier  who  lived  in  Buckingham, 
and  who  was  in  the  battle  at  Trenton.  In  visiting  his  family  he  was  once 
concealed  under  a  hogshead  in  the  cellar  when  neighborhood  Tories  searched 
the  house  for  him.  James  Simpson,  not  known  to  be  related  to  the  soldier, 
was  a  preacher  among  Friends,  who  died  in  Frankford.  "  He  left  some 
sermons  and  other  writings  behind."  "  J.  Simpson  Africa  is  a  grandson  of 
John  Simpson  "  of  Bucks  County. 

"  Edmund  Kinsey  had  a  scythe  and  axe  factory  about  two  miles  north- 
west of  Lahaska."     There  was  a  saw-mill  on  Paul  Preston's  property,  where  a 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  315 

part  of  the  dam  remains,  on   the  stream  crossing  "the  York  Road  near 
Greenville." 

Eliza,  a  daughter  of  Samuel  Johnson,  according  to  Davis,  married 
Jonathan  Pickering.  She  was  a  poet.  In  1835  she  wrote  some  lines  to 
Halley's  comet  after  its  disappearance,  beginning : 

"  Thou  hfxst  gone  in  thj'^  brightness  thou  beautiful  star, 
With  the  train  of  refulgence  that  streamed  from  thy  carj 
Where  Philosophy's  eagle  flight  never  may  soar. 
Nor  e'en  Fancy's  bold  pinion  attempt  to  explore. 


"When  the  stars  of  the  morning  triumphantly  sang, 
And  the  shouts  of  archangels  in  joyfulness  rang, 
Was  then  thy  glad  orb  launched  on  ether's  vast  deep, 
Unchanging  for  ages  its  pathway  to  keep?" 

Mr.  Johnson's  daughter  Ann  married  Thomas  Paxson  of  Buckingham, 
and  also  wrote  poetry  of  which  we  give  a  specimen  from  Davis's  selections  of 
the  Bucks  County  Poets.     It  is  from  "  A  Thanksgiving :  " 

"  For  the  morning's  ruddy  splendor. 

For  the  noontide's  radiant  glow; 
For  the  golden  smile  of  sunset. 

Illuming  all  below; 
For  flowers,  those  types  of  Eden, 

That  gem  the  verdant  sod, 
And  seem  to  ope  their  petals 

To  tell  us  of  our  God. 


"  For  the  memories  that  encircle 

The  happy  days  gone  by; 
For  the  holy  aspirations 

That  lift  the  soul  on  high  ; 
For  the  hope  in  brighter  regions 

By  seraph  footsteps  trod 
To  meet  the  lost  and  loved  ones 

I  thank  Thee,  oh,  my  God." 

The  poem  styles  flowers  "  alphabets  of  angels  "  to  lead  the  soul  to  God,  if 
wisely  read. 

General  Greene  is  said  to  have  remained  at  the  Centreville  inn,  and 
entertained  fellow-officers  there,  as  stated  in  Battle's  History  of  Bucks  County. 

At  Forestville,  in  Buckingham,  is  a  Presbyterian  Church,  under  the 
care  of  Rev.  J.  B.  Kruson,  which  has  been  noticed  in  the  review  of  Rev.  Dr. 
Turner's  History  of  the  Neshaminy  Church. 


316  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

"THE  VALE  OF  LAHASKA,"  BUCKINGHAM. 

Indians  lingered  long  among  the  beautiful  scenery  of  the  Neshaminy 
here.  The  legend  ran  that  Eve  regretfully  plucked  a  bunch  of  flowers  in 
leaving  Paradise,  so  did  they  recall  past  joys. 

xVquetong  Spring  was  the  reputed  birth-place  of  Teedyuscung  of  renown, 
and  here  that  Indian  chief  passed  his  early  years,  and  it  is  narrated  by 
chroniclers  that  the  savage  had  a  good  feeling  for  the  white  man.  It  is  stated 
that  the  Indians  supplied  the  whites  with  meal  and  beans,  refusing  payment. 
The  children  of  the  Indians  were  sociable  and  playful. 

There  was  harmony  in  mutual  dependence.  Simplicit}'  was  found  in 
natural  life.  The  Indians  and  whites  were  not  far  separated  in  their  wants 
in  seeking  a  livelihood.  A  band  of  Lenni  Lenapes  left  their  wigwams  on  the 
Buckingham  Mountain  in  1773  for  the  Wabash  River,  where  a  part  of  their 
tribe  had  previously  removed. 

Samuel  Preston  relates  that  when  his  grandfather,  Amor  Preston,  "  the 
first  settler  of  Buckingham,"  went  to  Wicacoa,  (Philadelphia),  where  his  place 
"  was  surrounded  by  fire  in  the  woods,  and  they  with  difficulty  escaped  with 
their  lives — all  their  little  property  being  consumed,"  some  Indian  friends 
invited  them  to  Laskeek,  (Buckingham  Mountain),  to  their  village  Hollekonk, 
where  was  a  "limestone  sink-hole  that  used  to  contain  good  water."  The  hos- 
pitable red  men  treated  the  family  well,  and  here  Nathan  Preston  was  born, 
the  first  white  child  born  in  Buckingham  township.  A  young  Indian  woman 
named  Sarah  nursed  the  mother  and  child.  The  boy  learned  to  talk  the 
Indian  language  with  the  Indian  boys  before  he  caught  his  native  tongue. 

John  Watson,  a  noted  surveyor  of  Buckingham,  who  was  secretary  to 
Governor  Morris  at  an  Indian  treaty  at  Easton,  when  Franklin  was  in  attend- 
ance and  who  assisted  Surveyor,  General  Nicholas  Scull  in  running  the  line 
between  Maryland  and  Delaware,  is  buried  in  the  graveyard  at  Buckingham 
meeting  house. 

General  John  Lacy,  of  this  section,  was  a  Revolutionary  officer,  who  went 
from  a  grist-mill  to  the  Captaincy  of  a  Company. 

Battle's  History  of  Bucks  County  notes  these  interesting  facts. 

BUCKINGHAM  MEETING-HOUSE. 

It  is  natural  for  the  Friends  to  love  Whittier  "  the  Quaker  Poet,"  and  in 
the  following  lines  on  "  Pennsylvania,"  in  "  Poems  of  Places,"  edited  by 
Longfellow,  he  has  well  painted  their  quiet  and  gentle  ways: 

"Fair  First-Day  mornings  steeped  in  Summer  calm 
Warm,  tender,  restful,  sweet  with  woodland  balm, 
Come  to  him  like  some  mother-hallowed  psalm. 

To  the  tired  grinder  at  the  noisy  wheel 
Of  labor,  winding  off  from  memory's  reel 
A  golden  thread  of  music.    With  no  peal 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  317 

Of  bells  to  call  them  to  the  house  of  praise, 
The  scattered  settlers  through  green  forest- ways 
Walked  meeting-ward.    In  reverent  amaze 

The  Indian  trapper  saw  them  from  the  dim 

Shade  of  the  alders  on  the  rivulet's  rim, 

Seek  the  Great  Spirit's  house  to  talk  with  Him. 

There,  through  the  gathering  stillness  multiplied 
And  made  intense  by  sympathy,  outside 
The  sparrows  sang  and  the  gold-robin  cried, 

A-swing  upon  his  elm.     A  faint  perfume 
Breathed  through  the  open  windows  of  the  room 
From  locust  trees,  heavy  with  clustered  bloom. 

Lowly  before  the  Unseen  Presence  knelt 
Each  waiting  heart,  till  haply  some  one  felt 
On  his  moved  lips  the  seal  of  silence  melt. 

Or,  without  spoken  words,  low  breathings  stole 
Of  a  diviner  life  from  soul  to  soul. 
Baptizing  in  one  tender  thought  the  whole. 

When  shaken  hands  annovmced  the  meeting  o'er, 
The  friendly  group  still  lingered  at  the  door, 
Greeting,  inquiring,  sharing  all  the  store 

Of  worldly  tidings.  Meanwhile  youth  and  maid 
Down  the  green  vistas  of  the  woodland  strayed, 
Whispered  and  smiled  and  oft  their  feet  delayed. 

Unvexed  the  sweet  air  seemed.    Without  a  wound, 
The  ear  of  silence  heard,  and  every  sound 
It's  place  in  nature's  fine  accordance  found. 

And  solemn  meeting,  summer,  sky  and  wood, 
Old  kindly  faces,  youth  and  maidenhood 
Seemed,  like  God's  new  creation,  very  good ! " 

While  this  poem  had  reference  to  early  days  in  Philadelphia  it  well 
describes  the  Friends  of  Pennsylvania  in  general,  in  the  time  of  Penn. 

When  I  was  copying  this  poem  the  loving  poet  was  quietly  ending  his 
useful  and  brave  life.  On  the  dawn  of  September  7th,  A,  D.,  1892,  the  gentle 
spirit  entered  into  everlasting  rest  and  peace  at  Hampton  Falls,  New  Hamp- 
shire ;  and  at  his  birthplace,  Haverhill,  Massachusetts,  among  a  mourning 
people,  the  City  Hall  bell,  according  to  a  touching  New  England  custom, 
struck  eighty-four  times  to  mark  the  number  of  years  he  had  passed  in  life's 
journey  to  the  grave.  The  farm  lad  of  great  individuality  and  strong  char- 
acter has  made  his  life  a  benediction  to  many,  and  is  known  over  the  world. 

The  following  from  the  Philadelphia  Evening  Bulletin  on  the  day  he  died 
is  of  interest : 


318  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

JOHN   GREENLEAF   WHITTIEK. 

John  Greenleaf  AVhittier  was  born  in  Haverhill,  Mass.,  December  17, 1807. 
When  Whittier  was  born  Jefferson  was  in  the  second  year  of  his  second  term, 
George  III,  was  still  on  the  throne  of  England  and  Napoleon  had  but  recently- 
been  crowned  Emperor  of  France  and  had  not  yet  reached  the  zenith  of  his 
power.  In  the  world  of  letters  Byron  was  in  college  writing  his  "  Hours  of 
Idleness;"  Scott  had  just  written  his  "Lady  of  the  Lake;"  Burns  had  been 
dead  but  eleven  years ;  Longfellow  was  still  a  short  fellow  in  his  cradle,  and 
Bryant  had  just  startled  his  friends  by  the  production  of  his  first  poem,  '•  The 
Embargo." 

These  notes  are  fitting  in  this  volume  as  Whittier  once  lived  in  Phila- 
delphia, and  sojourned  for  a  time  in  the  country  part  of  Pennsylvania,  near 
the  York  Road,  not  far  from  New  Hope. 

HOLICONG. 

In  1711  the  York  Road  was  opened  from  Centre  Bridge  toward  Phila- 
delphia by  Greenville.  [See  the  Local  Sketches  and  Legends  of  Wm.  J. 
Buck  (at  Pa.  Hist.  Soc.)  p.  201.] 

Mr.  Buck  describes  the  Vale  of  Lahaska,  as  being  close  to  Greenville 
village,  with  its  limestone  spring. 

Friends'  Meetings  were  held  at  William  Parlet's  house.  In  time  Buck- 
ingham meeting  house  arose  in  this  region.  The  land  was  from  James 
Streater. 

There  were  Indians  near  Holicong  in  1690  on  Streater's  land,  probably 
between  the  spring  and  the  meeting  house.     This  is  a  limestone  section. 

Dr.  John  Watson  and  Samuel  Preston  were  antiquaries  deserving 
remembrance  who  lived  in  the  Vale  of  Lahaska. 

A  quaint  legend  puts  an  Indian  into  the  subterranean  stream  which  is 
said  to  have  burst  open  as  he  was  seeking  a  deer;  or,  according  to  another 
legend,  having  sprung  on  the  back  of  a  buck,  the  buck  plunged  into  the 
stream  with  the  Indian  on  his  back.  The  deer  came  out  at  Aquetong. 
Chaff  has  passed  through  this  course. 

There  was  a  tradition  that  King  Hickoquocum  committed  suicide  by 
jumping  into  the  spring. 

Buck  gives  the  account  of  these  Indian  days  in  an  interesting  manner. 

Holicong  is  above  Buckingham  meeting  house.  The  meeting  house  was 
used  as  a  hospital  in  the  Revolution. 

The  following  from  the  Philadelphia  Daily  Times  of  May  28,  1891,  well 
introduces  the  author  of  our  next  contribution  : 

"Albert  S.  Paxson,  of  the  Buckingham  Valley,  Bucks  County,  was  in  the 
city  yesterday,  coming  down  over  the  Northeast  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
lately  opened  to  New  Hope,  and  of  which  company  he  is  a  director,    Mr. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  319 

Paxson  took  an  active  part  in  having  the  railroad  extended  from  Hartsville 
to  the  Delaware  River,  and  through  his  efforts  the  Valley  of  Buckingham 
was  especially  favored.  He  is  a  brother  of  Chief  Justice  Paxson,  of  the  State 
Supreme  Court,  and  father  of  Edward  E.  Paxson,  of  the  Real  Estate  Title  and 
Insurance  Company,  and  also  father  of  Colonel  Henry  D.  Paxson,  of  Governor 
Pattison's  staff.  'Squire  Paxson  is  enjoying  a  respite  from  labors  incident  to 
certain  building  enterprises  in  which — with  the  Chief  Justice — he  has  a  deep 
interest  at  the  Buckingham  Station." 

HISTORY  AND  REMINISCENCES  CONTRIBUTED  BY  ALBERT  S. 
PAXSON,  ESQ.,  OF  HOLICONG,  BUCKS  COUNTY,  PA. 

No  portion  of  the  Old  York  Road,  with  its  wayside  inns  and  rural  homes, 
contains  more  of  historic  interest  than  that  embraced  in  the  township  of 
Buckingham.  Settled  at  an  early  period  of  our  country's  history,  and  on  the 
line  of  travel  from  Philadelphia  to  New  York  the  rich  agricultural  lands 
offered  superior  inducements  to  the  early  pioneers  to  locate  their  homes  and 
secure  for  themselves  and  families  a  bountiful  share  of  the  blessings  the  sur- 
roundings afforded  them.  And  first  in  importance,  as  rich  in  historic  value 
may  be  mentioned  the  old  meeting  house  now  standing  upon  the  hill  near 
the  Solebury  line  and  where  the  old  thoroughfare  parts  company  at  what  is 
called  the  Forks,  one  crossing  the  Delaware  River  at  New  Hope  and  thence 
to  New  York,  the  other  at  Centre  Bridge  a  few  miles  farther  up  the  river  and 
finally  reaching  the  same  city  by  a  more  northerly  route.  The  hardy 
yeoman  and  their  following  were  principally  Friends  and  friendly  people  who 
came  over  with  Penn,  or  arrived  shortly  thereafter,  pushed  up  through  the 
woods  of  Newtown  and  Wrightstown,  crossed  Buckingham  Mountain  and 
located  in  the  charming  valley  beyond.  What  a  wondrous  world  of  beauty 
met  their  enraptured  gaze  as  from  the  mountain's  height  their  eyes  beheld 
the  vale  beneath  with  alternate  farm  and  forest  and  winding  stream,  with 
gentle  hills  skirting  the  western  border  clothed  with  the  primeval  forest,  and 
the  far  off  Haycock  towering  above  all  with  its  rounded  and  blue  summit. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  the  pioneers  here  rested,  that  here  they  built  their 
meeting  house  and  homes.  This  was  previous  to  1700.  About  this  time 
Friends  held  meeting  for  worship  at  the  houses  of  John  Gillingham,  William 
Cooper,  James  Streaters  and  Nathaniel  Bye.  A  log  meeting  house  was  built 
in  1705  in  the  south  corner  of  the  burying  ground  upon  ten  acres  of  James 
Streaters'  land.  The  following  year,  as  appears  by  the  record  "  they  desired  to 
have  glass  windows  in  it  and  William  Biles  offered  to  pay  the  expense  of  the 
same."  Glass  was  considered  a  luxury  in  those  days.  In  1708  the  house 
was  completed.  What  now  embraces  the  lower  half  of  the  present  burying 
ground  was  laid  out  about  this  time  or  just  before  the  house  was  built.  For 
more  than  one  hundred  years  it  was  the  only  place  for  interment  in  the 
settlement.     In  1721  an  addition  was  made  to  the  house,  also  of  logs.     A 


320  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

stone  house  more  commodious  was  built  in  1731  with  two  apartments  to 
accommodate  the  two  sexes  in  their  transaction  of  business,  as  a  monthly 
meeting  had  been  established  there  in  1720,  under  the  following  circum- 
stances: "  Whereas,  Friends  of  Buckingham  have  hitherto  belonging  to  the 
Falls  Monthly  Meeting,  being  now  pretty  much  increased  in  numbers  and 
having  for  a  long  time  with  some  hardships  travelled  a  great  way,  moves  to 
have  a  monthly  meeting  of  their  own.  Notwithstanding  the  Falls  Friends 
were  loath  to  be  deprived  of  their  good  company  and  assistance  yet  this 
meeting,  having  taken  their  request  and  reasons  into  consideration,  consent 
to  their  proposals,  and  allow^s  them  to  have  a  monthly  meeting  of  their  own." 
It  W'ill  be  seen  that  up  to  this  time  although  having  a  meeting  of  worship 
here,  they  were  attached  to  Falls  Monthly  and  Business  Meeting  which  was 
the  parent  meeting,  and  there  are  cases  on  record  where  Friends  travelled  on 
foot  to  the  Falls.  This  was  a  religion  of  sacrifice  in  those  days,  not  an 
easy  going  religion  as  now. 

The  meeting  was  fortunate  in  having  at  this  early  day  men  of  standing 
and  great  moral  worth.  Thomas  Canby  was  chosen  clerk  and  he, and  his 
descendants  served  in  that  capacity  continuously  for  more  than  one  hundred 
years.  He  was  a  man  eminently  fitted  for  the  duties,  and  the  impress  he 
and  his  family  made  upon  the  Society  of  Friends  has  not  been  confined  to 
one  generation.  To  him  perhaps  more  than  any  one  man  is  due  the  high 
standing  this  meeting  acquired  in  this  community,  and  the  world  at  large. 
As  his  life  has  been  an  eventful  one  this  sketch  w^ould  be  incomplete  without 
a  brief  review  of  his  character.  Thomas  Canby  came  over  from  Thorn,  York- 
shire, England,  in  1683,  in  company  with  his  uncle  and  guardian,  Henry 
Baker.  At  this  time  he  was  a  youth  of  16  years  without  means  as  would  be 
inferred  from  the  following  extract  taken  from  the  minutes  of  Bucks  Quarterly 
Meeting  of  Friends  held  at  the  house  of  Richard  Hough,  the  5th  of  the  6th 
month,  1685,  ''Henry  Baker  hath  brought  in  an  account  of  disbursements 
about  bringing  Thomas  Canby  into  this  country,  and  they  both,  vis :  Henry 
Baker  and  Thomas  Canby,  have  referred  the  length  of  time  the  said  Thomas 
Canby  shall  serve  the  said  Henry  Baker,  for  said  charge  and  his  passage,  and 
it  is  the  agreement  and  judgment  of  this  meeting,  that  the  said  Thomas 
Canby  shall  serve  the  said  Henry  Baker  five  years  from  this  day,  and  that  at 
the  expiration  of  said  term,  the  said  Henry  Baker  shall  allow  the  said  Thomas 
Canby  apparel  and  corn  and  whatever  things  are  allowed  by  law  to  minors  so 
brought  over."  In  our  day  apprentices  would  think  this  hard  servitude.  At 
the  expiration  of  his  indenture  young  Canby  settled  near  Jenkintown,  Mont- 
gomery County,  and  in  1693  he  married  and  begat  children — sons  and 
daughters  as  of  old.  He  came  to  Buckingham  about  1700.  By  his  first  wife 
he  had  nine  children  and  two  years  after  her  decease  in  1708,  married  again, 
and  by  this  union  there  were  eight  children  born.  He  survived  her  and  later 
in  life  took  unto  liimself  a  third  partner,  by  whom  there  were  no  children, 
though  he  had  seventeen  by  the  two  former  wives.     Most  of  the  children 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  321 

grew  to  man  and  womanhood  and  intermarried  with  the  Paxsons,  Elys, 
Gillinghams,  Prestons,  Staplers,  Smiths,  Hamptons,  Lacys,  Hibbs,  Wilsons, 
Shipleys,  Johnsons,  et  al.  Many  of  them  were  blessed  with  large  families  and 
their  descendants  have  spread  their  outstretched  arms  not  only  over  Bucks 
and  Montgomery  Counties,  but  will  be  found  in  large  numbers  in  New 
Jersey,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Ohio  and  the  far  West.  The  Canby  name  is  not 
common,  but  this  is  accounted  for  ^rom  the  fact  that  a  large  share  of  the 
children  were  girls  and  they  had  a  fashion  then  as  now,  in  changing  their 
name  in  early  womanhood  as  good  opportunity  presented,  and  the  family 
name  was  lost.  Not  so  the  blood.  It  is  carried  down  the  stream  of  time  and 
the  pulse  will  register  its  ebb  and  flow^  to  the  latest  generation.  Jane  Canby, 
eldest  child  of  Thomas  Canby  by  the  second  wife,  married  Thomas  Paxson, 
and  Chief  Justice  Paxson  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania  is  a  great 
grandson  of  theirs,  through  Jacob  and  Thomas  the  second. 

But  let  us  return  to  the  old  meeting  house  which  we  find  was  burned  in 
1768,  from  sparks  falling  upon  the  roof  while  the  meeting  was  in  session. 
The  present  imposing  structure  was  built  the  following  year  and  stands 
to-day  as  then  erected.  It  is  40x70  feet,  two  stories  high,  of  grit  stone,  nar- 
row pointed,  with  concave  plaster  cornices  at  the  eaves  and  also  at  the  ends. 
The  interior  is  divided  in  both  stories  by  a  partition  of  panel  shutters  made 
to  slide,  forming  two  separate  apartments  when  desired.  The  upper  story 
forms  a  gallery  to  the  lower.  The  inside  is  finished  with  white  cedar;  has 
never  been  despoiled  with  a  painter's  brush,  and  it  retains  much  of  its  original 
lustre  after  a  period  of  120  years.  The  total  cost  was  £736, 14s,  IJd.  Mathias 
Hutchinson  was  the  master  mason  and  Edward  Good  the  carpenter,  and  the 
long  years  it  has  withstood  the  elements  proves  the  superior  skill  of  the 
builders.  It  is  getting  to  be  an  old  landmark,  and  the  ancient  oaks  that  sur- 
round it,  could  they  but  speak,  would  tell  us  of  scenes  long  before  the  house 
was  placed  in  their  midst,  ere  Penn  landed  upon  these  shores,  when  the 
"  Lenni  Lenape  "  with  his  bow  and  quiver  drove  the  startled  deer  from  their 
repose.  Deer  were  not  uncommon  when  the  first  house  was  erected,  and  tradi- 
tion says  while  the  meeting  was  in  session  one  Sabbath  morn  a  full  grown 
fawn  came  to  the  door,  snuffed  the  air  from  within,  but  did  not  conclude  to 
remain  and  worship  with  them. 

During  the  Revolutionary  War,  the  present  meeting  house  was  used  as  a 
hospital,  and  during  1777,  Friends  met  in  Thomas  Ellicot's  blacksmith  shop. 

Mathias  Hutchinson,  like  Friend  Canby,  was  a  prominent  man  in  his 
day,  not  only  in  the  society  of  Friends  but  in  the  world  at  large.  He  filled 
the  office  of  Associate  Judge  for  many  years  when  the  court  was  held  at  New- 
town, and  held  other  responsible  trusts.  He  was  a  man  of  parts  and  if  need 
be  could  turn  his  hand  to  diplomacy.  The  following  little  incident  coming 
from  the  late  Joseph  Fell,  through  his  son,  my  friend,  E.  Watson  Fell,  will 
illustrate  his  method  of  reaching  an  end.  When  the  present  meeting  house 
was  near  completion,  he  suggested  to  Friends  that  as  the  work  had  been  done 
21 


322  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

in  a  very  satisfactory  manner  the  initials  of  his  name  be  cut  upon  a  stone  in 
the  east  gable.  Friends  thought  not  well  of  this  as  savoring  a  little  of  the 
monumental.  Matters  rested  thus  for  a  time  and  Friend  Hutchinson 
bethought  himself  of  another  method  of  reaching  the  same  result.  So  one 
meeting  day  when  Friends  were  looking  around  the  building  and  surveying 
the  improvements  he  remarked  carelessly  that  it  might  be  well  to  have  some- 
thing to  designate  the  character  of  the  building,  if  nothing  more  than  to 
distinguish  it  from  the  school  house,  also  an  imposing  structure  near  by.  To 
this  Friends  readily  assented  and  the  letters  M.  H.  were  accordingly  placed  as 
desired.  Friends  did  not  just  see  the  point  that  the  initials  stood  for  Mathias 
Hutchinson  as  well  as  Meeting  House. 

The  antiquarian  will  find  much  to  interest  him  within  these  walls. 
When  occupied  as  a  hospital  in  1777  an  occasional  stray  bullet  was  let  loose 
and  plowed  its  way  through  the  polished  casements  of  the  windows.  Many 
disabled  defenders  of  our  then  young  Republic  there  bade  adieu  to  worldly 
strife  and  were  lain  to  rest  beneath  the  shades  of  those  old  oaks.  When  the 
turnpike  was  made  some  forty  years  ago,  and  the  road  cut  down  and 
widened,  the  bones  of  several  of  those  poor  fellows  were  unearthed  and 
removed  to  a  safer  resting  place.  Memory  delights  to  wander  back  half  a 
century  or  more  and  recall  the  scenes  of  boyhood  in  connection  with  this 
historic  building.  The  house  was  then  well  filled  at  meetings  for  worship. 
Joseph  Foulke,  father  of  the  present  Doctor  Foulke  of  Centreville,  and  Jesse 
Kersey,  neighboring  ministers,  occasionally  visited  the  meeting,  and  their 
eloquent  discourses  drew  a  large  attendance.  Samuel  Blackfan  did  the 
principal  ministerial  work  fifty  years  ago.  He  was  not  an  eloquent  man,  but 
preached  a  good  square  sermon,  although  lacking  concentration  and  con- 
tinuity of  thought.  He  had  good  materials  for  his  discourse  but  they  would 
not  always  fit  together  so  as  to  produce  a  harmonious  whole.  He  lived  some 
distance  from  the  meeting  and  was  delayed  sometimes  in  getting  there  at  the 
appointed  time.  On  one  occasion  I  remember  the  meeting  was  half  over,  yet 
he  had  a  sermon  for  us,  and  his  text  was,  "A  half  a  loaf  is  better  than  no 
bread."  His  logic  seemed  clear  to  my  youthful  mind,  and  as  it  was  then 
considerably  past  the  dinner  hour  I  would  have  gladly  accepted  the  half  loaf, 
in  a  literal  sense,  and  given  a  receipt  in  full  of  all  demands,  for  bread 
that  day. 

What  mighty  changes  have  been  witnessed  in  this  meeting  in  little  over 
half  a  century.  It  was  my  privilege  to  visit  it  one  fine  Sabbath  morning  last 
summer,  and  I  was  sadly  impressed  with  the  apparent  decline  in  member- 
ship. The  few  in  attendance  were  all  seated  in  what  was  called  the  women's 
end,  and  the  empty  seats  far  outnumbered  those  filled.  In  looking  around, 
the  query  arose,  "  Our  fathers,  where  are  they?"  Where  are  the  Watsons, 
Wilsons,  Carys,  Johnsons,  Jones,  Lancasters,  Walkers,  Scarboroughs,  Waltons, 
Malones,   Worthingtons,  Paxsons,  Blackfans,   Beanses,  Hestons,  Elys,  Byes, 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  323 

Broadhursts,  Smiths,  Dickersons,  Ellises,  Williamses,  Fells,  and  many  more 
who  with  their  families  I  had  seen  there  in  my  early  boyhood. 

There  was  no  preaching,  to  the  outward  at  least,  on  the  day  of  my  late 
visit,  and  an  unbroken  silence  reigned.  A  gentle  breeze  played  through  the 
lattice,  stirring  a  thousand  leaves  upon  those  old  oaks  that  had  stood  ward 
and  watcher  there  for  more  than  a  century.  Feathered  songsters  flitted  from 
bough  to  bough  chanting  deliverance  from  winter's  icy  chain.  The  hum  of 
bees  that  thronged  the  window  casements  added  to  the  harmonies  of  Nature 
and  all  the  surroundings  were  conducive  to  repose.  I  may  have  fallen  in 
with  the  contagion,  but  from  the  well  of  memory's  deep  flowing  spring  there 
came  in  broken  fragments  the  scenes  of  long  ago,  when  Samuel  Blackfan  was 
about  to  enter  upon  the  ministry,  and  the  brotherly  counsel  given  him  by 
Samuel  Johnson  : 

"  I  as  a  brother  kindly  would  portray,'  ' 

My  views  and  prospects  of  the  heavenly  way. 
Thou'st  taken  His  bounty  who  bade  wars  to  cease, 
And  raised  the  standard  of  the  Prince  of  Peace; 
To  serve  his  cause,  embraced  His  holy  plan. 
Commenced  ambassador  from  God  to  man. 
High  duties-  now,  thy  humbled  mind  engage, 
Christ's  soldiers  here  no  carnal  warfare  wage ; 
Serve  him  through  time,  who  erst  engaged  thy  youth, 
And  mind  the  stepping  stones  from  truth  to  truth. 
Let  not  thy  mind  by  wild  delusion  driven, 
Explore  the  by-paths  for  the  road  to  Heaven  ; 
Nor  blindly  follow  dark  tradition's  way, 
Ask  for  the  pillar's  light,  the  cloud  by  day ; 
This  guide  then  follow  for  the  prize,  the  mark. 
Nor  with  false  fire  e'er  mix  the  sacred  spark. 
To  creeds  and  systems,  man's  work,  doubting  stand. 
But  mind  the  pointings  of  the  Holy  Hand. 
Trust  not  the  '  Lo  heres,'  or  '  Lo  theres,'  we  find, 
Mere  innovation  blindly  leads  the  blind. 
Study  the  Scriptures,  oft  their  truths  distil. 
And  oftener  yet,  the  volume  of  His  will ; 
Let  not  imagination  vainly  stray. 
O'er  barren  heaths  nor  e'en  the  flowery  way ; 
But  low  and  humble  keep  the  truth  still  near, 
AVith  thoughtful  reverence,  and  Holy  fear. 
Approach  the  throne  of  Majesty  on  high. 
For  bread  to  live,  for  precepts  how  to  die. 
So  shalt  thou  find  of  joy  a  rich  increase. 
Thy  full  reward  be  harmony  and  peace." 


324  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Samuel  Blackfan  possessed  great  integrity  of  character,  had  a  wide  circle 
of  acquaintances,  and  was  much  respected.  In  his  youthful  days  he  was 
given  to  poesy  in  a  small  way,  but  did  not  succeed  so  well  in  this  as  he  did 
in  later  years  in  the  ministry.  In  one  of  his  little  ditties  there  is  evidently  a 
love  entanglement  connected,  and  in  describing  the  nature  of  his  wants  in  the 
near  future,  he  writes : 

"  I  want  a  farmer's  daughter,  sturdy,  strong  and  stout, 
To  milk  the  cows  and  whirl  the  cream  about." 

That,  or  something  else  brought  the  desired  helpmeet,  but  I  fear  had  he  lived 
in  our  day,  and  thrown  out  his  line  with  such  a  bait  thereon,  he  would  have 
had  no  catch,  but  driven  the  fish  entirely  from  the  stream.  After  he  settled 
in  life,  we  hear  nothing  of  his  little  muse.  It  may  possibly  have  been,  that 
amid  the  busy  scenes  of  farm  and  dairy,  little  cares  and  little  children  grew 
up  around  him  and  dwarfed  its  growth.  He  died  in  the  full  vigor  of  man- 
hood, in  his  wagon  on  the  way  home  from  Philadelphia.  Few  were  ever 
better  prepared  for  such  a  sudden  summons. 

Samuel  Johnson  possessed  a  highly  cultivated  mind,  took  an  active 
interest  in  society  matters,  and  was  withal  a  poet  of  much  merit.  His  father 
came  from  Ireland,  and  the  portrait  Curran  draws  of  a  genuine  Irish  gentle- 
man is  alike  applicable  to  father  and  son.  "The  hospitalities  of  other 
countries  is  a  matter  of  necessity  or  convention ;  in  savage  nations  of  the  first, 
in  polished,  of  the  latter.  But  the  hospitality  of  an  Irishman  is  not  the  run- 
ning accounts  of  posted  and  ledgered  courtesies,  as  in  other  countries;  it 
springs,  like  all  his  qualities,  his  faults,  his  virtues,  directly  from  the  heart. 
The  heart  of  an  Irishman  is  by  nature  bold,  and  he  confides ;  it  is  tender,  and 
he  loves ;  it  is  generous,  and  he  gives ;  it  is  social,  and  he  is  hospitable." 

One  of  Friend  Johnson's  daughters,  Eliza  Pickering,  was  for  many  years 
a  valued  contributor  to  the  Germantown  Telegraph,  then  edited  by  P.  R.  Freas. 

While  many  mourn  the  falling  off  in  membership  of  this  meeting,  and 
its  general  decline,  it  has  fulfilled  a  mission;  it  has  accomplished  a  great 
work,  and  to  have  been  preserved  thus  long  must  have  been  partakers  of  the 
comforting  promises  to  the  Church  of  Israel  as  recorded  by  the  Prophet 
Isaiah  :  "  Fear  not,  for  I  have  redeemed  thee,  I  have  called  thee  by  thy  name ; 
thou  art  mine.  When  thou  passeth  through  the  waters,  I  will  be  with  thee ; 
and  through  the  rivers,  they  shall  not  overflow  thee;  when  thou  walkest 
through  the  fire  thou  shalt  not  be  burnt ;  neither  shall  the  flame  kindle  upon 
thee."  Of  the  future  we  know  not,  but  of  the  past,  it  has  not  been  as  the 
barren  fig  tree — but  has  borne  good  fruit ;  has  been  as  it  were :  "Rivers  of 
water  in  a  dry  place,  the  shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land."     (Isai.  32, 2.) 

As  an  apt  illustration  of  the  fostering  care  here  bestowed  and  careful 
parental  training,  we  have  only  to  cast  our  eyes  around  to  behold  in  sight  the 
homes  wherein  were  spent  the   boyhood  of  such  eminent  men  as  Judges 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  325 

Edward  M.  Paxson,  D.  Newlin  Fell  and  Richard  Watson.  Many  more  might 
be  mentioned  whose  success  in  life  has  not  been  so  marked,  but  whose  lives 
have  been  attended  with  a  reasonable  share  of  merit,  owing  much  however, 
to  early  impressions  received  within  the  shadows  of  those  old  walls,  coupled 
with  faith  and  action  and  a  virtuous  resolve. 

The  place  is  much  visited  on  account  of  the  old  associations,  and  the 
ancient  graveyard  wherein  many  generations  have  been  gathered  in,  is  the 
great  center  of  attraction.  It  is,  as  it  were,  a  Mecca  for  Quakerdom,  and 
pilgrims  at  this  shrine  are  daily  seen  wandering  through  these  hallowed 
grounds,  looking  up  the  green  mounds  'neath  which  lie  the  loved  ones  who 
have  taken  their  final  departure  and  entered  into  rest.  Mention  has  been 
made  of  Samuel  Blackfan  and  his  ministry,  and  we  must  not  omit  that  of 
two  others  who  were  prominent  in  giving  counsel  a  little  later  on  in  the 
meeting's  history.  Martha  Smith,  a  woman  of  strong  will  and  indomitable 
perseverance,  came  upon  the  stage  oi  action  when  those  twin  evils,  Slavery 
and  Intemperance  claimed  a  large  share  of  public  attention.  She  was  very 
pronounced  in  her  opposition  to  them  and  waged  war  upon  them  in  every 
quarter.  She  was  fearless  and  aggressive;  led  the  advance  column  in  the 
crusade  against  them  and  threw  out  her  picket  line  far  in  advance  of  any 
that  had  heretofore  ventured,  and  close  upon  the  enemy's  works.  She  threw 
shells  into  their  camp,  creating  consternation  and  dismay.  The  Friends,  as  a 
body  were  slower  in  moving,  and  more  conservative  in  their  views,  and 
while,  as  a  society,  they  had  maintained  a  strong  and  consistent  testimony 
against  those  evils,  were  not  as  yet,  ready  to  endorse  her  advanced  doctrine, 
and  her  course  was  much  criticised.  Time  however,  evened  up  all  things 
and  she  lived  to  see  slavery  abolished ;  but  at  a  greater  cost  than  she  antici- 
pated, while  intoxicants  yet  linger  with  us.  Amos  Jones,  a  minister  of  a 
milder  type  was  much  interested  in  the  cause  of  temperance,  and  he  had  an 
honesty  of  purpose  that  caused  him  to  be  much  respected. 

In  addition  to  the  semi-weekly  gatherings  for  worship,  the  house  was  not 
without  its  share  of  comedy.  Most  of  the  marriages  in  the  neighborhood 
three  quarters  of  a  century  ago  were  consummated  within  these  walls,  and 
scarcely  a  month  passed  that  loving  couples  did  not  exchange  their  vows  of 
constancy. 

The  year  1824  will  ever  be  memorable  as  having  witnessed  four  wed- 
dings upon  the  same  day  and  hour.  The  parties  who  wove  the  "silken  tie 
that  binds  two  willing  hearts,"  were  John  Wilson  and  Mary  Fell,  Samuel 
Eastburn  and  Mary  Carver,  Joseph  Lewis  and  Ann  Saul,  Daniel  Smith  and 
Hannah  Betts.  It  must  have  been  a  brilliant  affair,  and  with  the  rich  and 
glossy  silks  of  brides  and  attendant  maids  of  honor,  vieing  in  beauty  with 
the  mountain  clothed  in  its  autumnal  robes,  must  have  presented  a  scene  of 
Oriental  splendor.  Did  I  say  I  looked  thereon?  Not  at  all,  but  my  ancient 
friend,  Joseph  E.  Reeder,  did,  and  he  gave  it  unto  me.  I  Know  not  if  more 
than  one  of  the  contracting  parties  are  now  living.     I  met  Daniel  Smith  not 


326  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

long  since  walking  up  the  long  hill  to  the  meeting  house  and  as  Cowper 
says,  his  was  "the  elastic  of  an  unwearied  foot."  He  is  cleverly  along  in  the 
nineties  with  faculties  well  preserved. 

After  the  division  of  the  Friends,  a  commodious  structure  was  erected  by 
those  who  withdrew,  on  a  handsome  location  at  the  forks  of  the  road,  a  short 
distance  beyond  the  old  meeting  house.  A  stone  in  the  front  Avail  of  the 
house  bears  the  date  of  1830.  It  is  still  used  as  a  house  of  worship,  with  a  very- 
small  congregation,  however.  There  is  scarcely  one  left  who  took  part  in  that 
unhappy  conflict ;  most  of  them  have  long  since  been  laid  side  by  side  in  their 
narrow  dwellings  in  the  churchyard  near  by,  and  there  may  they  rest ; 

"  Rest  till  the  signal  calls  the  ransom'd  throng, 
With  shouts  their  Saviour  and  their  God  to  greet; 
Rest  till  the  harp,  the  trumpet  and  the  song, 
Summon  the  dead  death's  conqueror  to  meet. 
And  love  imperfect,  man's  best  gift  below, 
In  Heaven  eternal  rapture  shall  bestow." 

With  all  their  faults,  in  this,  their  day  of  sore  affliction,  may  we  not  believe, 
in  the  last  extremity,  before  the  great  Judge  of  all,  their  plea  for  mercy  will 
be  heeded  and  life  everlasting  be  given  them,  even  among  the  "  ransom'd 
throng." 

To  the  North  and  East,  little  over  a  stone's  throw  from  the  meeting  house 
stands  the  old  school  building  which  is  likewise  a  distinguishing  landmark 
on  the  line  of  travel  between  Philadelphia  and  New  York.  Particularly  so, 
as  within  a  few  yards  of  its  classic  walls  upon  the  northern  side,  the  old. 
thoroughfare  parted  company,  then  making  two  main  routes  eastward.  I  am 
unable  at  present  to  give  the  exact  time  the  building  was  erected,  but  it 
probably  antedates  and  outranks  in  age  the  present  meeting  house.  It  is 
large  and  commodious,  with  hall  and  school  room  on  the  first  floor  and  two 
upon  the  second,  one  long  used  as  a  library.  For  its  day  and  time  this 
collection  of  books  was  not  surpassed  in  any  country  place  and  additions  were 
made  from  time  to  time,  embracing  the  writings  of  the  best  authors  in  those 
days.  It  added  much  to  the  culture  and  refinement  of  the  neighborhood,  but 
in  course  of  time  its  interest  seemed  to  abate,  owing  perhaps  in  some  measure 
to  the  abundance  of  magazines  and  other  light  literature.  The  library,  after 
many  years,  succumbed  to  force  of  circumstances  and  was  finally  disposed  of 
at  auction.  Many  valuable  works  were  sold  for  a  trifle,  many  people  seeming 
ignorant  of  their  worth.  A  gentleman  of  my  acquaintance  bought  several 
volumes  for  a  few  cents  each,  which  proved  to  be  rare,  entirely  out  of  print, 
and  worth  nearly  as  many  dollars  as  the  pennies  paid  for  them. 

The  school  had  a  reputation  for  a  long  time  of  being  the  best  the  Countj^ 
afforded.  With  such  instructors  as  Joseph  Fell,  William  H.  Johnson  and 
Thomas  Paxson  it  could  not  be  otherwise.     They  were  far  in  advance  of  any 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  .    327 

teachers  in  this  vicinity  in  their  day,  and  if  there  was  anything  in  a  boy  they 
developed  it.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  teaching  there  several  terms,  some  forty- 
five  years  ago,  but  I  pray  you  not  to  place  me  with  those  able  educators  above 
named.  It  was  my  good  fortune  to  receive  instruction  from  each  of  those 
scholarly  men  and  I  have  often  thought  I  did  not  make  the  most  of  the 
opportunities  then  afforded.  What  scholar,  if  now  living,  does  not  remember 
the  long  rows  of  boxed  seats  called  bee  hives,  for  the  small  lads,  with  no  back 
support  or  foot  rest.  How  uncomfortable  a  position  for  the  little  fellows  to  sit 
by  the  hour  with  their  "A,  B,  C,"  primer  before  them.  I  remember  well, 
and — 

"How  we  watched  the  slow  ascending  sun 
Climb  the  deep  azure  of  the  vaulted  sky ; 
And  when  one-half  his  daily  course  was  run, 
Together  shouting  to  our  sports  did  fly." 

Who  does  not  love  to  call  to  mind  the  scenes  of  early  school  life,  the  varied 
trials,  the  changes  from  book  to  book,  the  advance  in  studies  step  by  step,  the 
increasingly  difficult  problems  met  and  solved,  until  upon  a  higher  plane 
learning  is  made  more  easy.  There  were  not  so  many  branches  taught  in 
our  common  schools  then  as  now,  except  it  be  the  one  referred  to.  Writing 
composition  was  a  new  thing  then,  and  hard  to  accomplish.  It  taught  the 
scholar  to  think — gather  ideas  and  put  them  in  proper  shape.  There  was  the 
rub.  I  found  upon  trial  I  could  not  do  it,  but  a  lad  about  my  size  thought 
he  could  and  dashed  off  an  essay  on  his  favorite  animal,  "  The  Horse."  It 
was  upon  Saturday  afternoon,  (they  had -school  then  six  days  in  the  week  and 
followed  the  Scriptural  injunction — "Six  daysshalt  thou  labor  and  do  all  that 
thou  hast  to  do,")  and  the  essayist  of  the  bee  hive  row  came  to  the  front 
and  handed  the  teacher  his  production,  as  follows :  "  The  horse  is  a  useful 
animal,  and  can  pull  a  big  load  up  a  hill,  and  is  good  on  a  farm,  but  our  old 
Dolly  mare  ran  away  in  the  cornfield  last  week  and  broke  the  handles  off  the 
little  harrow."  It  is  said  "  large  trees  from  little  acorns  grow,"  and  this  is  no 
exception  to  the  rule.  He  was  an  attentive  scholar,  improved  his  opportuni- 
ties, and  in  after  years  his  life  for  usefulness  has  been  attended  with  a  measure 
of  success.  He  is  yet  living  and  among  the  very  few  of  my  classmates  seen 
at  the  Quarterly  Meeting  in  May  last.  He  carefully  surveyed  the  old  school 
bounds,  and  his  contemplative  mood  suggested  to  my  mind  his  wandering 
back  ill  memory  to  childhood's  days  and  his  first  effort  as  an  essayist.  Among 
those  who  attended  the  school  in  those  days  I  can  call  to  mind  Preston  J.  Rich, 
and  his  brothers,  James  and  Josiah,  George  and  John  W.  Gilbert,  S.  Johnson, 
Albert  S.  and  Edward  M.  Paxson,  Henry  Watson,  the  Lancaster  boys  from 
Solebury,  John,  Thomas,  and  Edward;  John  and  Wilson  D.  Large;  the 
Wilkinson's,  Ross,  Smith  and  Algernon;  J.  Gillingham  Fell,  Joseph,  Charles 
and  Howard  Dickerson,  Samuel  E.  Broadhurst,  John  Buckman,  George  Smith, 


328  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

C.  Bennington  Ely,  Peter  Naylor,  Phineas  Pickering,  Richard  Watson,  J. 
Watson  Case,  and  the  Baker  boys  from  Philadelphia,  Mifflin  and  Jefferson; 
with  many  others  whose  names  do  not  now  present  themselves.  Many  of 
them  are  dead,  others  have  moved  away,  some  to  rise  to  prominence  and 
others  to  be  lost  sight  of.  The  Baker  boys  were  pupils  of  Joseph  Fell  and 
came  from  the  city  to  share  the  superior  advantages  the  school  offered.  I 
knew  them  well ;  one  of  them  sat  on  one  of  the  "  bee  hives,"  next  me,  and  one 
day  to  while  away  the  weary  hours  of  school,  made  a  barter  in  knives.  He 
had  a  "  town  knife,"  much  coveted  by  us  country  lads  who  never  rose  above  a 
"  barlow,"  and  consequently  I  had  to  give  him  several  marbles  to  boot.  While 
making  the  exchange  the  w^atchful  eye  of  the  "  master"  fell  upon  them,  and 
they  were  confiscated.  The  "master's"  law  against  trading  knives  in  school 
was  unalterable,  as  that  of  the  Medes  and  Persians,  which  changeth  not. 

Jefferson  Baker  accompanied  Doctor  Kane  on  his  Arctic  expedition,  and 
died  before  his  return.  The  Doctor  thus  refers  to  this  sad  event  on  page  200 
of  the  first  volume  of  his  work  :  "  Early  on  the  morning  of  the  7th  of  April 
I  was  awakened  by  a  sound  from  Baker's  throat,  one  of  the  most  frightful 
and  ominous  that  ever  startled  a  physician's  ear.  The  lockjaw  had  seized 
him — that  dark  visitant  whose  foreshadowings  were  on  so  many  of  us.  His 
symptoms  marched  rapidly  to  their  result.  He  died  on  the  8th.  We  placed 
him  the  next  day  in  his  coffin,  and  forming  a  rude  but  heart-full  procession, 
bore  him  over  the  broken  ice  and  up  the  steep  side  of  the  ice  foot  to  Butler 
Island,  then  passing  along  the  snow-level  to  Fern  Rock,  and  climbing  the 
slope  of  the  Observatory,  we  deposited  his  corpse  upon  the  pedestals  which 
had  served  to  support  our  transit  instrument  and  theodolite.  We  read  the 
service  for  the  burial  of  the  dead,  sprinkling  over  him  snow  for  dust,  and 
repeated  the  Lord's  prayer,  and  then,  icing  up  again  the  opening  in  the  walls 
we  had  made  to  admit  the  coffin,  left  him  to  his  narrow  house.  Jefferson 
Baker  was  a  man  of  kind  heart  and  true  principles.  I  knew  him  when  we 
were  both  younger.  I  passed  two  happy  seasons  at  a  little  cottage  adjoining 
his  father's  farm.  He  thought  it  a  privilege  to  join  this  expedition,  as  in 
those  green  summer  days  when  I  allowed  him  to  take  a  gun  with  me  on 
some  shooting  party,  he  relied  on  me  with  the  affectionate  confidence  of 
boyhood,  and  I  never  gave  him  a  harsh  word  or  hard  thought." 

But  we  are  making  a  long  narrative  and  must  hasten  on  to  other  scenes, 
leaving  much  of  interest  here  untold.  The  associations  cover  a  long  period 
of  history  and  call  to  mind  a  most  worthy  class  of  men  whose  lives  of  sacrifice 
and  devotion  to  Christianity  are  fast  fading  from  view.  They  have  all  been 
gathered  by  the  reaper's  hand  and  harvested  in  the  eternal  ,field,  and  there 
green-leaved,  may  they  forever  live. 

Immediately  in  front  of  the  meeting  house  will  be  found  the  original 
Streater  tract,  containing  500  acres  of  land  as  appears  by  a  map  of  the  town- 
ship in  1703.  It  passed  into  the  hands  of  Edmund  Kinsey  about  this  time. 
A  little  beyond  and  adjoining  the  mountain,  Thomas  Bye  located  600  acres; 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  329 

about  the  same  time,  and  settled  thereon.  It  has  been  divided  and  sub- 
divided to  meet  the  wants  of  succeeding  generations,  but  a  portion  is  yet  held 
by  the  family,  who  are  the  sixth  in  line  from  the  first  Thomas.  It  is  upon 
this  tract  that  the  famous  "  Indian  Field,"  is  situated.  It  contains  about  ten 
acres,  at  the  base  of  the  mountain,  and  when  the  early  pioneers  penetrated 
the  wilderness  of  woods,  the}^  found  this  clearing  which  the  Indians  were 
cultivating  in  their  rude  way,  and  here  it  was,  the  newcomers  with  their 
wooden  ploughs  turned  the  first  furrow.  It  was  an  object  of  interest  fifty 
years  ago,  being  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  a  vast  expanse  of  forest,  and  was 
a  favorite  resort  for  lovers,  I  am  told,  Caesar,  an  old  colored  man  lived  in  a 
cabin  on  the  borders  of  the  field  and  may  have  witnessed  exchanges  of  love 
tokens,  but  as  he  never  revealed  anything,  he  was  no  doubt  sworn  to 
secrecy.  The  field  has  been  suffered  to  grow  up  with  timber  of  late  years  for 
want  of  cultivation  and  there  is  little  now  to  mark  the. spot,  and  thus  another 
old  landmark  is  gone.  Day  by  day  the  links  are  falling  from  the  chain, 
connecting  the  present  with  the  past. 

The  country  home  of  Chief  Justice  Edward  M.  Paxson,  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  our  State  embraces  part  of  the  original  Bye  and  Kinsey  tracts, 
immediately  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain.  The  farm  contains  about  250 
acres,  and  he  calls  the  place  "  Bycot  House,"  after  the  ancestral  home  in 
Buckinghamshire,  England.  He  has  spared  no  expense  in  improving  it,  and 
all  the  comforts  and  conveniences  which  an  advanced  civilization  and  refine- 
ment afford,  have  been  added  thereto.  The  place  is  well  stocked  with  the 
best  teams  and  most  improved  machinery,  and  all  the  appointments  are  of 
the  first  order.  The  barns  are  commodious  and  will  store  over  100  tons  of 
hay.  The  land  has  been  brought  to  the  highest  state  of  cultivation  and  pro- 
duces heavily.  Pure  spring  water  is  brought  from  the  mountains,  through 
pipes,  and  a  windmill  forces  it  through  house  and  barns.  An  additional 
windmill  grinds  grain  for  the  cattle  and  does  other  handy  work.  A  leading 
feature  is  the  fruit  which  is  found  in  great  variety  and  abundance.  A  green- 
house and  grapery  adorn  the  lawn  and  garden,  and  add  additional  beauty  to 
the  surroundings.  The  Judge  farms  on  a  large  scale  and  like  everything 
else  he  does  this  is  done  thoroughly.  He  is  a  business  man  and  hard 
worker.  In  addition  to  the  farm,  there  is  the  Doctor  Jayne  estate  to  look 
after  weekly,  besides  numerous  other  heavy  trusts,  and  withal  his  labors  upon 
the  Supreme  bench.  The  concluding  paragraph  of  a  short  sketch  of  the 
Judge  in  Battle's  History  of  Bucks  County  says :  "  His  opinions,  always  on 
time  for  publication,  are  distinguished  by  terseness,  clearness  and  appropriate 
diction.  They  always  give  evidence  of  his  accurate  knowledge  of  the  law,  a 
knowledge  rendered  clear  to  the  comprehension  of  others  by  excellence  of 
style.  An  examination  of  the  Supreme  Court  reports  for  some  years  past  will 
show  that  no  member  of  that  bench  has  contributed  more  opinions  than 
Judge  Paxson.  Many  of  the  most  important  cases  brought  into  that  tribunal, 
especially  that  of  Asa  Packer  vs.  Noble,  reported  in  7th  Outerbridge,  were 


330  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

committed  to  his  hands,  the  confidence  reposed  in  him  by  his  yoke-fellows  in 
office  being  thus  rendered  apparent."  Years  of  labor  have  made  his  work 
familiar  and  he  can  accomplish  much  in  a  given  time.  The  writer  was 
forcibly  struck  with  this  when  on  a  visit  to  him  last  summer,  wherein  in  less 
than  two  days  he  had  written  fifteen  opinions — some  of  them  lengthy  and 
requiring  considerable  research. 

The  Judge  has  a  fine  herd  of  cattle,  and  he  may  yet  match  Mr.  Singerly 
of  Gwynedd  in  the  milky  way.  Justice  Paxson  spends  much  of  his  summer 
vacation  at  his  farm,  and  upon  a  fine  morning  may  be  seen  taking  long 
walks,  surveying  the  growing  crops,  or  enjoying  the  cooling  breeze  at  noon- 
day amid  the  depths  of  his  extended  woodland.  He  does  not  cut  off  and 
clear  and  farm,  as  does  the  average  jeom.a,n,  but  reserves  at  least  one-fifth 
of  the  land  for  timber. 

At  the  foot  of  the  hill  below  the  meeting  house  stands  a  modest  little 
mansion  placed  there  m^ny  years  ago  by  Edward  Williams,  and  occupied  by 
his  family  for  a  number  of  years.  He  lived  there  when  that  portion  of  the 
Old  York  Road  from  Centre ville  to  the  meeting  house  was  made  a  turnpike, 
so  called,  and  Mr.  Williams  was  Treasurer  of  the  Company.  I  think  this  was 
about  the  year  1847,  and  I  remember  it  loosened  our  purse  strings  consid- 
erably in  paying  up  our  instalments.  Edward  Williams  was  a  man  much 
esteemed. 

John  S.  Williams,  a  pioneer  member  of  the  Solebury  Farmers  Club,  a 
son  of  his,  was  born  at  this  place,  but  now  lives  in  Solebury,  is  social  and 
hospitable  and  has  a  large  circle  of  acquaintances.  He  is  a  writer  of  some 
prominence,  and  his  essays  are  read  with  much  interest.  Upon  the  opposite 
side  of  the  way  stands  a  yet  older  mansion  and  distinguishing  landmark  of 
our  old  roadway.  Samuel  Johnson,  of  whom  mention  has  been  made,  settled 
there  about  the  year  1789.  He  it  was  that  planted  the  row  of  sycamore  trees 
at  the  bridge,  having  brought  them  on  horseback  from  near  the  Delaware 
River.  They  are  giants  now,  but  of  the  original  half-dozen  one  or  two  have 
been  uprooted  by  the  fur}^  of  the  elements.  The  place  has  changed  hands 
several  times  since  then,  in  turn  occupied  by  Doctor  John  Wilson,  John 
Magoffin  a  Presbyterian  clergyman,  Harvey  Shaw  and  the  late  George  G. 
Maris.  I  knew  the  place  when  occupied  by  Doctor  Wilson.  J.  Gillingham 
Fell,  afterwards  so  widely  known,  lived  there  several  years  before  going  to  the 
coal  region  to  seek  fame  and  fortune.  He  found  them  both.  His  mother, 
Mary  Fell,  married  Doctor  Wilson  and  it  will  be  remembered  they  were  one 
of  the  four  couples  that  were  joined  in  matrimony  at  the  old  meeting  house  in 
1 824.  I  visited  my  schoolmate  Fell  frequently,  and  was  greatly  impressed  with 
the  worth  of  his  mother.  She  was  queenly  in  appearance,  gifted  by  nature, 
with  a  refined  and  cultivated  taste.  The  old  mansion  retains  much  of  its  primi- 
tive simplicity,  and  many  landmarks  may  yet  be  seen,  carrying  us  back 
more  than  a  century.  It  has  long  been  the  abode  of  a  refined  and  generous 
hospitality.     A  little  farther  on  and  by  the  roadside,  will  be  found  the  old  Fell 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  331 

home,  long  the  residence  of  Dr.  David  Fell.  He  attended  the  family  who 
lived  where  I  now  reside,  in  time  of  sickness,  and  was  esteemed  as  a  conscien- 
tious and  careful  practitioner.  One  of  my  earliest  recollections  was  in  seeing 
him  make  his  daily  excursion  among  the  sick.  He  lived  to  a  good  old  age 
and  left  children,  Joseph  and  his  three  sisters.  All  of  them  were  teachers  in 
our  schools  and  did  much  to  advance  the  standard  of  education.  Judge  D. 
Newlin  Fell,  so  widely  known  in  Philadelphia  as  an  able  and  upright  jurist, 
is  a  grandson  of  the  Doctor.  * 

A  short  distance  brings  us  to  a  road-crossing  and  hamlet  with  a  history 
larger  than  the  place.  More  than  one  hundred  years  ago  it  was  content 
without  a  name,  but  the  force  of  circumstances  created  one ;  and  it  happened 
in  thiswise:  A  Jersey  man  driving  a  flock  of  geese  to  Philadelphia  found 
them  unmanageable  by  reason  of  a  vicious  dog,  and  the  people  all  flocked  to 
the  doors  to  witness  the  spectacle.  The  laughing  crowd  offered  no  assistance, 
and  the  poor  man,  angered  to  the  highest  degree,  cried  aloud,  "  this  is  Grin- 
town."  It  was  many  years  before  the  village  got  rid  of  the  unfortunate  name. 
In  course  of  time  the  Jerseyman  and  his  geese  dropped  out  of  sight  and  the 
place  was  known  as  Greenville  until  within  a  very  few  years,  when  a  post- 
office  was  established  there,  called  Holicong,  the  Indian  name  of  the  natural 
well  close  by.  The  village  assumed  the  name  of  the  post-office.  The  long 
white  house,  now  known  as  the  "  Old  Abbey,"  is  both  historic  and  classic,  by 
reason  of  its  occupancy  as  a  store  and  school  in  turn  fifty  and  seventy-five 
years  ago.  First  as  a  store  by  one  of  the  Shaws  wdio  drifted  down  from 
Plumstead  to  better  his  fortune  in  this  populous  and  rich  Quaker  Valley. 
The  house  is  long  and  he  used  the  eastern  end  for  the  store  while  the  other 
served  as  a  dwelling.  His  stock  of  merchandise  was  small  but  it  embraced  a 
large  variety.  They  did  not  advertise  their  wares  in  the  newspapers  then  as 
now,  but  the  window  shutters  gave  notice  of  what  might  be  found  within. 
Conspicuous  thereon  were:  "  RU3I,  MOLASSES,  TEA."  They  must  have 
been  leading  and  staple  articles,  judging  from  the  prominence  given  them, 
for  while  all  other  symbols  inscribed  thereon  have  long  since  faded  from  view 
those  historic  emblems  were  plainly  to  be  seen  not  very  many  years  ago. 
The  monster  RUM  stood  out  in  black  character  then  as  now,  while  woman's 
favorite  beverage  came  last  on  the  list.  Water  is  said  to  be  efficacious  on  a 
wash,  and  while  it  faded  the  color  and  strength  of  the  tea,  it  made  little 
impression  upon  the  rum.  Yet  withal  it  might  be  well  to  keep  a  stream 
playing  upon  it.  I  am  not  aware  of  the  reason  friend  Shaw  had  in  giving 
such  prominence  to  those  three  articles,  but  as  a  well  informed  man  he  doubt- 
less knew  of  the  triumvirate  formed  by  Julius  Caesar,  Pompeius  and  Crassus, 
that  ruled  Rome  for  a  time,  before  the  Christian  era,  and  bethought  himself 
to  establish  a  triumvirate  of  merchandise  that  would  rule  the  commerce  of 
the  world. 

Friend  Shaw  was  a  man  highly  esteemed  in  his  day  a  kind  neighbor  and 
good  citizen,  but  there  has  been  an  advancement  in  society  since  then.    After 


332  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

a  time  the  building  ceased  to  be  used  for  a  store  and  some  fifty-five  years  ago 
took  a  classical  turn.  Martha  Hampton  and  Hannah  Lloyd,  two  enterprising 
sisters,  the  latter  a  widow,  established  a  female  boarding  school  there. 
They  were  well  calculated  to  make  it  a  success,  which  they  did.  Hannah 
managed  the  household  department  with  wonderful  skill  and  Martha 
conducted  the  school  [in  such  a  way  that  gave  it  a  reputation  far  and 
near.  Pupils  were  in  attendance  not  only  from  Bucks  and  Montgomery 
Counties  but  from  Philadelphia  and  adjacent  parts  of  New  Jersey.  The 
school  was  soon  established  upon  a  firm  basis,  and  ranked  foremost  as  an 
institution  of  learning  at  that  day.  There  will  yet  be  found  some  elderly, 
intelligent  matrons,  with  many  a  gray  streak  in  their  carefully  arranged 
hair,  who  were  educated  at  this  school.  A  limited  number  of  day  scholars 
of  both  sexes  were  admitted  and  among  the  number  will  be  found  the  names 
of  Richard  Watson  and  Edward  M.  Paxson.  They  lived  near  by,  the  home 
of  Richard  being  in  the  village.  His  father,  John  Watson,  was  a  man  of 
intelligence  and  great  force  of  character,  a  prominent  member  of  Friends 
meeting,  and  entertained  largely  at  his  hospitable  home.  We  will  now  leave 
the  "  Old  Abbey,"  with  the  reminder  that  it  has  long  since  lost  its  classical 
feature  and  is  used  now  as  a  tenement.  Although  the  scholars  attending  this 
school  might  be  called  "Children  of  the  Abbey,"  they  should  in  no  wise  be 
confounded  with  Regina  Maria  Roche's  "  Children  of  the  Abbey "  a  highly 
pictured  romance,  published  in  1805,  and  much  read  at  that  time. 

The  Buckingham  Post-Office  was  established  at  Centreville  in  1805  and 
for  a  long  time  was  the  only  one  in  the  township.  It  was  moved  to  Holicong, 
the  village  whereof  we  write  about  in  1825,  and  Nathaniel  Ashby  appointed 
post-master,  Seneca  W.  Eh^,  one  of  the  talented  editors  of  Murat  Halstead's 
widely  known  paper,  the  Cincinnati  Commercial  Gazette,  in  giving  some  old 
time  reminiscences  of  his  early  haunts,  to  a  cousin  in  Buckingham,  says : 
"  Ashby  had  a  family  of  boys,  one  of  them  nearly  grown,  when  they  came  to 
the  village.  His  wife's  name  was  Rachel,  and  to  her  husband's  vocation  as 
post-master  and  tailor,  she  added  the  making  and  selling  of  cakes  and  beer. 
One  of  the  Ashby's  boys  was  named  Clinton,  but  was  commonly  called 
"  Clint."  He  was  of  a  garrulous  disposition,  and  often  provoked  personal 
combats.  Those,  who  attended  the  old  Tyro  Hall  School  in  the  winter  of 
1827-8,  may  call  to  mind  from  personal  knowledge,  some  of  the  many 
encounters  occurring  there.  "Clint"  figured  conspicuousl}^  in  them,  and 
generally  managed  to  be  on  the  winning  side.  He  was  careful,  however,  to 
join  issue  with  one  smaller  and  younger  than  himself  and  did  not  adhere  to 
the  rule  laid  down  by  school  fellows,  to  "  take  one  of  your  size."  I  was  a  very 
small  bo}^  in  those  days  and  remember  "Clint,"  but  my  tender  years  kept  me 
out  of  the  encounters.  I  fear  my  cousin  Ely  was  worsted  in  some  of  them.  A 
Johnson  Case  came  to  Greenville  as  early  as  1825  and  succeeded  Ashby  as 
post-master.  Pie  was  an  industrious  and  worthy  man  and  thrifty  shoemaker, 
succeeding  in  business,  shoeing  the  people  for  miles  around.     His  shoes  wore 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  333 

well,  but  those  he  made  for  me,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  are  all  worn  out  now. 
After  many  years  of  industry,  Case  saved  enough  money  to  buy  a  farm,  where 
the  remainder  of  his  life  was  spent,  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  well  earned 
competency. 

Adjoining  this  last  property  upon  the  south  and  on  the  York  Road  lies 
the  old  Ely  property.     It  is  a  part  of  the  thousand  acre  tract  that  Penn  con- 
firmed to  Richard  Lundy  in  1688.     Hugh  Ely  in  1720-4  purchased  400  acres 
of  the  same  from  James  Lennox  who  held  title  through  Lundy.     No  finer 
tract  of  land  for  agricultural  purposes  was  ever  laid  out  by  Penn's  surveyors. 
It  lies  in  the  lap  of  a  most  charming  valley,  and  at  that  time  much  of  it  was 
covered  with  primeval  forest  through  which  kindly  streams  meandered  on 
their  way  to  the  Neshaminy.     It  has  a  frontage  of  nearly  a  mile  upon  the  old 
thoroughfare  of  which  we  write,  and  has  been  divided  and  sub-divided  to 
meet  the  needs  of  the  many  generations  since  then.     Now  it  embraces  the 
farms  of  Lavinia  S.  Paxson,  A.  Jennie  Williams,  Anna  Atkinson,  Charles  J. 
Smith  and  part  of  Judge   Paxson's   tract.      At  the  present  time  there  are 
less  than  100  acres  held  by  the  descendants  of  Hugh  Ely.     Col.  Henry  D. 
Paxson,  an  attorney  at  Philadelphia,  as  also  Edward  E.  Paxson,  are  the  sixth 
in  direct  line  who  have  occupied  the  premises  continuously  since  the  pur- 
chase in  1720.     Albert  S.  Paxson,  Esq.,  who  married  Lavinia  S.  Ely,  resides 
at  the  homestead.     It  has  many  old  land  marks  and  reminders  of  the  genera- 
tions that  have  gone  before.     The  sons  of  the  present  occupants  delight  to 
gather  round  the  old  fire-place  wherein  yet  hangs  the  "  Crane  and  Tramel," 
that  has  been  swinging  back  and  forth  since  1720  and  was  useful  in  prepar- 
ing savory  meals  for  three  or  four  generations.     It  has  been  superseded  by 
other  appliances  to  do  its  work,  but  is  held  in  veneration,  and  w^hen  lighted 
up  by  a  crackling  wood  fire,  what  hallowed  memories  gather  around  the  old 
hearth  stone.     Directly  opposite  the  old  Ely,  now  Paxson  mansion,  across  the 
meadow,  is  a  large  natural  well,  called  by  the  Indians,  "  Conky  Hole."     The 
natives  cleared  the  land  around  it,  and  built  a  village  of  wigwams  for  the  con- 
venience of  good  water  which  is  here  in  abundance.     The  Avell  is  nearly 
circular,  with  a  funnel-shaped  basin,  some  forty  yards  in  diameter  at  the  top, 
and  half  that  distance  to  the  water's  edge.     Heavy  rain-falls  and  melting  of 
snow  in  breaking  up  of  winter,  causes  the  water  to  rise  until  the  well  shows  a 
sheet  of  water  varying  from  thirty  to  forty  feet.     A  long  period  of  dry  weather 
on  the  other  hand,  contracts  its  limits  to  about  six  feet.     This  is  the  minimum 
size  as  here  a  strata  of  limestone  rocks  supports  the  surrounding  earth,  and 
may  properly  be  called  the  w^ell's  curb.     Below  this  the  water  again  spreads 
out,  and  all  attempts  to  fathom  its  depths  have  thus  far  proved  unavailing. 
Many  years  ago  a  pretty  thorough  examination  was  made  to  learn  of  its 
depth  and  extent.     A  large  force  was  gathered  with  plummet  and  other 
appliances,  and  after  removing  loads  of  rails  that  had  been  submerged  from 
time  to  time  by  visitors,  were  confronted  by  a  new  obstacle  in  the  shape  of 
projecting  rocks,  which  proved  an  insuperable  barrier  and  no  similar  attempt 


334  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

has  been  made  since.  This  well  is  undoubtedly  connected  with  a  large  body 
of  water  underlying  the  valley,  and  the  belief  is  generally  shared  in,  that  the 
outlet  thereto  is  Ingham's  Spring.  Tradition  has  not  failed  to  connect  this 
well  with  memorable  events,  wherein  the  great  peacemaker,  Penn,  joined  the 
Indians  in  their  councils  assembled  here.  It  was  a  place  much  frequented  by 
the  natives  as  the  "  Indian  Field,"  and  other  known  haunts  of  theirs  are  in 
the  immediate  vicinity.  It  is  not  surprising  that  the  Indians  lingered  here, 
for  at  Aquetong  the  renowned  Teedyuscung  is  said  to  have  been  born,  and  a 
band  of  the  "Lenni  Lenape"  had  their  wigwams  at  the  "Conky  Hole" 
preparatory  to  their  departure  in  1775,  to  join  a  portion  of  their  tribe  who 
had  previously  gone  to  the  Wabash  River.  During  the  summer  of  1774  the 
women  and  children  made  frequent  visits  at  the  Ely  mansion,  and  what  was 
most  remarkable,  they  always  came  upon  baking  day.  Their  wigwam  was 
close  by  and  the  inmates  scented  the  savory  pies  of  Cynthia  Ely  in  the  early 
morning  hours.  Among  the  traditional  events  connected  with  the  well,  chaff 
or  other  light  substances  thrown  in  was  said  to  come  out  at  Ingham's  Spring. 

Another  tradition,  not  as  current  however,  as  the  above,  but  which  will 
in  a  measure,  go  to  explain  the  singular  derivation  of  the  word  ''  Conky- 
Hole."  In  the  long  ago  the  great  chief  Tammany  and  a  band  of  his  dusky 
followers  were  seated  in  a  council  beneath  the  great  beech  trees  at  the  well. 
While  thus  engaged,  Tammany's  faithful  dog,  "Conky,"  scared  up  a  rabbit, 
and  after  a  long  and  exciting  chase  the  "  cotton-tail,"  to  escape  capture, 
jumped  into  the  spring,  and  "  Conky,"  in  eager  pursuit  followed  him  to  his 
watery  retreat ;  but  neither  were  successful  in  making  the  subterranean 
voyage  to  the  outlet  at  Ingham  Spring,  and  to  this  day  have  not  been  heard 
from.  Tammany,  it  is  said,  for  many  moons,  watched  by  the  side  of  the 
sparkling  waters  of  the  well  and  cried  aloud  to  the  Great  Spirit  for  the  return 
of  his  favorite  "  Conky,"  But  alas !  the  poor  dog  never  returned,  and  Tam- 
many mourned  his  loss  until  old  age  summoned  him  to  join  his  tribe  in  the 
new  hunting  ground  prepared  for  all  good  Indians  in  the  world  beyond. 
The  place  is  not  wanting  in  legendary  lore.  An  Indian  skinning  a  deer  on 
the  banks,  accidentally  fell  in,  and  in  due  time  came  out  at  the  great  spring 
in  Solebury,  not  much  the  worse  of  wear  and  able  to  relate  his  adventure.  In 
addition  to  the  historical  and  legendary  character  of  the  surroundings,  the 
witcheries  of  romance  and  poetry  have  been  brought  into  requisition.  Many 
an  attractive  and  fanciful  tale  from  the  pen  of  youthful  writers  had  their 
origin  here,  and  bards  were  not  forgetful  of  them  in  their  songs.  The 
original  Indian  name  has  been  modernized  of  late  years  to  "  Holicong,"  and 
the  post-office  and  village  near  by  both  answer  to  that  title. 

But  we  must  hurry  on ;  the  limits  of  this  paper  will  not  permit  a  mention 
of  all  the  homes  along  the  line  of  this  old  thoroughfare  through  Buckingham. 
It  may  be  the  readers  are  already  weary  and  as  we  have  thus  far  had  no 
refreshments,  we  will  tarry  awhile  at  the  wayside  Inn.  In  all  countries  they 
have  been  rendered  memorable,  and  the  privilege  of  tale-tellers  to  open  their 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  335 

story  in  an  Inn,  the  free  rendezvous  of  all  travellers,  is  conceded  to  all  writers. 
Sir  Walter  Scott  in  "  Kenilworth,"  has  invested  the  Inn  with  peculiar  interest. 
It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  changes  in  society  and  modes  of  travel 
have  shorn  them  of  much  of  their  olden  time  historic  interest.  At  the  inter- 
section of  the  Indian  trail  or  path  from  Bristol  to  Durham,  now  known  as 
the  Durham  Road,  and  the  Old  York  Road  at  Centreville  in  Buckingham 
township,  now  stands  a  famous  old  hostelry.  It  dates  far  back  beyond  the 
Revolution,  and  at  that  trying  period  of  our  country's  history  was  known  as 
"  Bogart's  Tavern."  The  "  Bucks  County  Committee  of  Safety  "  held  one 
or  more  meetings  here  in  1775,  and  General  Greene  also  had  his  headquarters 
there  for  some  time  during  the  war.  It  was  in  some  sense  a  recruiting 
station,  being  central  in  the  township,  and  many  a  poor  fellow  here  bade 
adieu  to  family  and  friends  to  take  the  chances  of  war,  and  never  returned  to 
relate  the  story  of  his  privations  and  sujfferings.  My  first  recollection  of  the 
place  was  when  Col.  Elisha  Wilkinson  did  the  honors  at  the  house.  He  was 
a  landlord  among  ten  thousand.  He  was  widely  known  and  respected,  and 
at  one  time  was  Sheriff  of  the  County.  He  was  also  a  sporting  man  and  kept 
fine  horses  and  dogs.  Game  was  plenty  then,  and  men  came  from  the  city 
in  the  fall,  stopped  at  Wilkinson's  and  returned  home  with  well  filled  game 
bags.  But  it  was  the  road  travel  that  gave  his  Inn  its  great  celebrity.  Trav- 
elling was  not  accomplished  then  as  now.  The  old  Troy  coach,  with  four-in- 
hand,  known  as  the  '^  Swift  Sure,"  made  this  a  prominent  station  on  the  line 
of  travel  from  Philadelphia  to  New  York.  Who  does  not  remember  it  rocking 
on  its  leather  suspenders,  how  it  bounces  and  springs,  creaks  and  swings,  now 
it  sticks  fast  in  the  mud ;  all  out !  heave  oh  !  and  onward  we  go,  and  war- 
ranted withal,  with  many  relays  of  fresh  horses  to  reach  New  York  in  two 
days.  What  mighty  changes  in  travel  since  then.  Now  we  run  sitting  still, 
and  fly  without  wings.  A  traveller  on  the  express  last  Summer  from  Camden 
to  Atlantic  city,  saw  but  two  objects  in  the  whole  distance,  two  haystacks,  and 
they  were  both  going  the  other  way. 

Schooley's  Mountain,  New  Jersey,  was  a  famous  watering  place  in  those 
days,  and  upon  a  Summer  evening  in  early  June,  coaches  arrived  at 
Wilkinson's  and  the  occupants  were  handsomely  entertained  over  night,  and 
in  the'morning  left  for  the  mountains.  Nor  was  this  the  only  line  of  travel 
that  made  the  Inn  and  old  roadway  memorable.  The  latter  was  a  common 
carrier,  an  artery  as  it  were,  that  supplied  much  of  the  life  blood  to  citizens 
of  Philadelphia.  Long  lines  of  white-tented  wagons  found  their  way  down 
the  Durham  Road  from  upper  Buckingham  and  localities  farther  north,  and 
were  joined  by  a  like  number  from  New  Jersey  that  crossed  the  Delaware 
River  at  Centre  Bridge,  laden  with  pork,  grain,  poultry,  buckwheat  flour  and 
products  of  the  dairy.  It  was  a  long  and  toilsome  journey  to  those  most  distant, 
occupying  three  days,  and  in  the  fall  the  good  housewife,  for  at  least  one  trip, 
accompanied  her  husband  to  assist  in  disposing  of  the  various  products,  and 
laying  in  a  goodly  stock  of  seasonable  purchases  wherewith  to  give  their  home 


336  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

and  children  a  hearty  Christmas  cheer.  It  is  needless  to  say  there  was  no 
money  carried  home  this  time  from  market,  but  they  had  treasures  that  gave 
the  home  and  the  holiday  season  a  long  and  happy  remembrance. 

When  a  small  boy,  it  was  my  privilege  to  accompany  my  father  on  such 
an  expedition.  We  stopped  to  feed  our  horses  at  the  Willow  Grove,  about 
half  way  to  the  city.  Jacob  E.  Buck  then  kept  the  Inn  at  the  forks  of  the 
road  there.  What  first  attracted  my  attention  was  the  huge  sign  swinging  to 
and  fro,  moved  by  the  chill  November  blast,  and  the  artist  had  pictured  a 
fiery  Red  Lion  thereon.  Why  he  had  chosen  this  animal  as  an  invitation 
that  travellers  would  be  welcome  I  do  not  know.  It  may  have  been  as  a 
reminder  that  the  beverages  dealt  out  at  the  bar  partook  of  the  strength  of 
the  animal  represented  on  the  sign,  as  well  as  the  color.  On  one  side  of  the 
barroom,  so  called,  was  a  long  table  around  which  were  seated  the  hardy 
Germans  of  Bedminster,  devouring  the  contents  of  their  well  filled  lunch 
baskets.  Many  of  the  prudent  housewives  had  taken  the  precaution  to  have 
with  them  the  family  coffee-pot ;  neither  was  it  empty.  A  few  were  less  for- 
tunate, and  fared  even  worse  than  the  "  Foolish  Virgins,"  of  old  who  carried 
lamps  without  oil,  whereas  in  this  case  they  had  neither  vessel  nor  contents, 
and  their  discomfiture  was  complete.  The  men  were  not  without  a  substitute, 
for  the  good  landlord  had  a  frothy  fluid  which  he  dealt  out  in  pewter  mugs. 
It  resembled  in  color  the  sign  described  and  may  have  had  the  strength  of  the 
lion.  My  father  did  not  call  for  any  of  it,  and  for  a  long  time  I  was  in  ignor- 
ance as  to  its  nature.  The  mugs  and  their  contents  had  well  nigh  faded 
from  memory,  but  when  attending  Court  at  Doylestown  some  two  or  three 
years  ago,  his  Honor,  Judge  Yerkes,  was  looking  up  the  mysterious  contents 
of  mugs  and  glasses,  as  connected  with  the  practices  of  the  good  people  of 
Newtown  and  Bristol.  It  appeared  the  "  W.  C.  T.  U."  were  "  hauling  over  the 
coals"  several  persons  who  had  been  dealing  in  frothy  fluids,  and  the  inquiry 
was  as  to  whether  they  had  been  dealt  out  in  due  form  of  law.  The  judge 
looked  sober  and  I  listened  attentively,  taking  in  all  the  evidence,  but  not  the 
fluids,  as  having  some  bearing  upon  what  the  Germans  seemed  to  relish  at  the 
AVillow  Grove  more  than  half  a  century  ago.  It  appeared  from  the  evidence 
that  the  creature  was  a  wayward  child,  and  now  known  only  b}'  the  name  of 
"  BEER,"  and  this  was  the  child  that  the  "  W.  C.  T.  U.,"  had^  disinherited  and 
disowned. 

Adjoining  the  hotel  property  and  extending  to  the  mountain,  lies  the  old 
Thomas  Canby  farm.  It  was  here  he  lived  many  years,  and  his  eventful  life 
has  already  been  referred  to.  General  Davis  in  his  "  History  of  Bucks 
County,"  says :  "  Canby  was  in  Buckingham  before,  or  by  1690."  I  think 
this  is  an  error,  for  he  was  not  married  until  1693,  and  then  he  settled  near 
Abington  Meeting,  Montgomery  County,  and  probably  did  not  move  to  Buck- 
ingham for  two  or  three  years  thereafter.  Most,  if  not  all  of  his  seventeen 
children  were  born  here.  His  first  wife,  Sarah  Garis,  died  in  April,  1708,  and 
in  June,  1709  he  married  Mary  Oliver,  who  died  in  1721,  and  the  property 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  337 

was  soon  after  disposed  of.  The  Andersons  have  held  it  for  three  or  four 
generations  and  now  occupy  it.     It  is  part  of  the  old  Lundy  tract. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  road  lies  the  "  Hughesian  School  "  property. 
Amos  Austin  Hughes  who  died  in  1811,  left,  by  his  will  the  farm  and  con- 
siderable personal  estate  for  the  erection  and  maintaining  a  free  school  for 
the  poor  of  the  township.  A  commodious  school  house  was  erected  soon  after 
in  which  a  school  has  since  been  kept,  but  the  adoption  of  the  general  school 
law  came  to  the  relief  of  the  poor,  and  the  fund  now  largely  increased,  helps 
to  relieve  the  over-taxed  land  holders.  It  is  a  grave  question,  and  will  admit 
of  much  discussion,  whether  the  fund  as  now  applied  is  in  conformity  with 
the  will  and  wishes  of  the  benevolent  donor.  There  may  be  a  lively  shake 
up  in  the  near  by  and  by. 

A  short  distance  up  the  road,  and  opposite  the  Hughesian  farm  will  be 
found  the  old  Austin  home,  which  was  occupied  by  the  family  for  several 
generations.  Hannah,  one  of  the  daughters,  married  John  Ely,  son  of  the 
second  Hugh,  and  moved  to  the  homestead,  now  the  farm-house  of  Anna  Jennie 
Williams.  This  was  in  1777,  and  on  the  following  year,  in  June,  General 
Washington  with  his  army  from  Valley  Forge  passed  along  the  Old  York 
Road  by  their  farm,  to  pursue  the  enemy  in  his  retreat  toward  New  York. 
The  wheat  field  adjoining  the  line  of  march  has  been  rendered  historic  in 
connection  therewith.  Seneca  W.  Ely,  Esq.,  of  Cincinnati,  a  cousin  of  the 
writer,  on  a  late  visit,  says  he  well  remembers  when  a  small  boy,  in  taking 
his  good  old  grandmother,  Hannah  Austin  Ely,  out  riding  in  the  "  Old 
Chaise,"  being  shown  the  field  whereon  a  fine  crop  of  wheat  was  growing,  the 
first  of  their  raising,  and  that  the  soldiers,  on  account  of  the  deep  mud  by 
reason  of  heavy  rains,  filed  through  the  growing  wheat  making  long  lines  of 
paths  and  tramping  it  closely  to  the  earth.  The  field  alluded  to  is  where 
Mrs.  Williams'  new  house  now  stands. 

The  relic  described  in  the  following  article  was  found  two  miles  north  of 
the  village  of  Holicong,  so  near  the  Old  York  Road  as  to  be  a  part  of  its  history. 

The  author  of  this  volume  is  indebted  to  the  courtes}^  of  Colonel  Henry 
Paxson,  of  the  Philadelphia  Bar,  for  the  securing  of  this  valuable  paper  : 

THE    LENAPE   STONE.^      CONTRIBUTED    BY    H.    C.    MERCER   OF 

DOYLESTOWN,  PA. 

Nearly  five  years  ago  the  writer  discussed  in  a  small  treatise  the  facts 
relating  to  the  below  pictured  carved  gorget,  known  as  the  Lenape  Stone ; 
how  Bernard  Hansell,  a  farmer,  while  ploughing  near  Mechanicsville,  Bucks 
County,  Pa.,  discovered  the  larger  fragment  in  1872,  and  the  smaller  one  in 
1881,  how  he  sold  one  and  gave  the  other  to  Henry  D.  Paxson  of  Holicong, 
Pa.,  how  many  persons  saw  both  pieces  in  1882,  how  it  was  exhibited  at  the 

'  The  Lenape  Stone  or  the  Indian  and  the  Mammoth,  by  H.  C  Mercer,  N.  Y.    G.  P. 
Putnam's  Sons.    1885. 
22 


338 


THE  YORK  ROAD. 


County  Fair,  and  discussed  by  Captain  John  S.  Bailey  in  an  interesting  paper 
read  before  the  Bucks  County  Historical  Society ;  how  finally  having  been 
pronounced  a  forgery  by  Dr.  D.  G.  Brinton,  the  late  Prof.  H.  Carvill  Lewis, 
and  Dr.  M.  E.  "Wadsworth  of  Cambridge,  Mass.,  it  was  referred  to  in  non-com- 
mittal statements  by  Dr.  F.  W.  Putnam  of  Cambridge,  Mass.,  and  the  late 
Doctor  Rau,  of  the  Smithsonian  Institute. 

In  the  above  treatise  the  writer  viewing  the  carving  as  a  pre-historic 
Algonkin  2:>ictograph  considered  it  as  representing  a  combat  between  Indians 
and  the  Hairy  Mammoth,  a  rude  drawing  of  the  great  shaggy  monster  tramp- 
ling under  foot  a  man  drawn  in  the  conventional  manner  of  the  Indians,  and 


PLATE    ]. 


PLATE    2. 

confronted  by  three  other  human  forms  one  of  whom  has  discharged  an  arrow 
into  its  side ;  lightning  strikes  the  beast's  head,  and  we  see,  as  the  Indian 
would  have  drawn  them,  a  forest,  wigwam,  sun,  moon  and  stars. 

It  was  urged  as  a  point  of  remarkable  interest  that  this  carving  found  in 
the  heart  of  the  Lenape  territory  should  be  regarded  as  a  pictographic  version 
of  the  well  known  Big  Buffalo  tradition  of  the  same  tribe,  the  details  of  which 
translated  into  English,  as  preserved  in  Jefferson's  Virginia  Notes,  bear  a 
marvellous  resemblance  to  the  carving. 


THP]  YORK  ROAD.  339 

"  In  ancient  times,"  answers  a  Delaware  chief  to  the  questions  of  a  Governor 
of  Virginia,  "  a  herd  of  these  tremendous  animals  came  to  the  Big  Bone  Licks 
and  began  a  universal  destruction  of  the  bear,  deer,  elks,  buffaloes,  and  other 
animals  which  had  been  created  for  the  use  of  the  Indians,  that  the  Great 
Man  above  looking  down  and  seeing  this,  was  so  enraged  that  he  seized  his  light- 
ning, descended  on  the  earth,  seated  himself  on  a  neighboring  mountain,  on 
a  rock  on  which  his  seat  and  the  print  of  his  feet  are  still  to  be  seen,  and 
hurled  his  bolts  among  them  till  the  whole  were  slaughtered  except  the  big  bull, 
who,  presenting  his  forehead  to  the  sliafts  shook  them  off  as  they  fell;  but  missing 
one  at  length  it  wounded  him  in  the  side,  whereon  springing  around  he  bounded 
over  the  Ohio,  over  the  Wabache,  the  Illinois,  and  finally  over  the  Great  Lakes, 
where  he  is  still  living  at  this  day." 

Here  is  a  correspondence  too  unusual  for  mere  coincidence — the  great 
man  above  (the  sun's  face  with  rays)  looking  down,  the  lightning,  and  the  big 
bull  presenting  his  forehead  to  the  shafts,  and  at  length  wounded  in  the  side 
— enough  indeed  in  the  writer's  opinion  to  warrant  the  belief  that  the 
maker  of  the  carving  was  familiar  with  the  tradition. 

But  what  of  all  this  if  the  stone  is  a  forgery,  if  it  has  been  manufactured 
by  the  writer,  by  Mr.  Paxson,  by  Hansel  1  or  Captain  Bailey,  or  some  person 
unknown  before  or  since  to  all  of  us  who,  after  months  of  careful  study  deter- 
mined as  a  practical  joke  to  "plant"  the  result  of  his  labors  in  Bernard 
Hansen's  farm?  What  if  it  is  true  as  Dr.  D.  G.  Brinton  says,  (Bucks  County 
Intelligencer,  September  6, 1 884,)  that  the  shading  or  rounding  on  the  mammoth 
and  the  general  grouping  of  the  whole  picture  are  things  entirely  beyond  the 
aesthetic  conceptions  of  the  pre-historic  red  man.  What  if  he  and  Mr.  M.  E. 
Wadsworth  of  Cambridge,  Mass.,  are  correct  in  saying  that  the  lines  were  cut 
with  a  steel  instrument,  "a  dull  steel  tool  like  an  awl?" 

Other  objections  have  been  made  but  they  have  not  seemed  adequate  to 
Archaeologists.  Mr.  Wadsworth  and  Mr.  Iddings,  (of  the  U.  S.  Coast  Survey,) 
believed  that  the  carvings  were  made  after  the  stone  was  broken,  or  arranged 
with  reference  to  the  break,  but  Doctor  Putnam  of  the  Peabody  Museum 
answered,  "  that  point,  startling  as  it  at  first  seems  is  not  important,  since  the 
Indian  often  breaks  his  gorget  through  the  holes  and  might  well  have  con- 
tinued his  work  after  the  fracture,  glueing  ortieing  together  the  pieces."  Mr. 
Horatio  Hale,  of  Toronto,  kindly  showed  photographs  of  the  stone  to  Dela- 
ware Indians  in  Canada  who  "thought  that  it  showed  Indian  workmanship 
and  would  have  been  inclined  to  consider  it  authentic  but  for  the  mammoth 
which  perplexed  them;  they  had  never  heard  of  such  a  creature  and  feared  a 
hoax." 

This  the  writer  urged  was  not  important,  all  depending  on  how  civilized 
the  Indians  had  become,  how  far  they  had  lost  the  pre-historic  ideas  and  tra- 
ditions of  their  tribe.  Evidently  they  had  forgotten  their  Great  Buffalo 
tradition,  just  as  often  in  one  generation,  the  German  American  settler  forgets 
the  trans-Atlantic  birth-place  of  his  ancestors. 


340  THE  YORK  KOAD. 

Objections,  to  quote  them  each  and  all,  have  been  made  further  to  the 
spear  as  a  weapon  never  used  by  Indians,  the  sun  a  circle  with  dots  and 
divergent  rays,  the  lightning,  and  a  pipe  upon  the  reverse  of  the  stone,  as  all 
foreign  to  pre-historic  Indian  life  and  pictography,  yet  investigation  has 
brought  to  light  no  example  of  lightning  indeed,  but  the  sun's  face  carved  on 
a  rock  on  the  Susquehanna,  a  similar  pipe  in  a  New  England  grave,  and 
spears  in  an  old  Spanish  picture  of  Florida  Indians.  Finally  Professor  Schaler, 
of  Harvard,  and  the  late  Professor  H.  Carvill  Lewis  found  in  the  mammoth 
figure,  a  suspicious  resemblance  to  the  famous  La  Madelaine  carving  discov- 
ered in  France,  which,  on  the  other  hand.  Doctor  Rau  of  the  Smithsonian, 
regarded  as  the  accidental  similarity  to  be  expected  in  two  profile  drawings 
of  the  same  animal. 

Here  are  the  objections  one  and  all  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  carving 
itself,  four  of  them  fairly  disposed  of,  but  two  of  them  sufficient  if  valid  to 
consign  the  stone  to  a  museum  of  interesting  counterfeits,  (a)  the  grouping  and 
shading  of  the  figures  unknown  to  the  pre-Columbian  Indian,  and  (b)  the 
steel  instrument. 

The  first  has  been,  I  think,  fairly  answered,  (Lenape  Stone  Appendix,  p. 
78.)  After  careful  study  I  am  forced,  with  extreme  deference,  to  diff'er  from 
the  opinions  of  Doctor  Brinton  and  Mr.  Wadsworth  in  the  belief  that  there 
are  not  enough  pre-historic  picture  writings  in  existence,  to  prove  by  compar- 
ison that  the  ancient  Algonkin,  whose  pictographic  skill  upon  bark  and  per- 
ishable materials  the  old  writers  often  mention,  did  not  make  use  of 
"  grouping." 

No  more  upon  these  grounds  can  I  admit  "  that  any  such  triple  arrange- 
ment as  the  brute,  human,  and  divine  group  standing  in  immediate  relation 
to  each  other  and  forming  parts  of  a  picture  was  far  above  aboriginal 
aesthetic  conceptions"  particularly  as  the  Lenape  hunter,  together  with  his 
brethren  of  other  tribes  had  formed  this  very  conception  in  the  Big  Buffalo 
tradition  as  above  quoted  from  Jeff'erson's  Virginia  Notes,  and  in  a  Wyandot 
version  of  the  same  legend  given  in  Winterbotham's  History  of  the  United 
States,  (vol.  3,  p.  139.) 

As  for  rounding  and  shading  we  must  see  it  all  in  the  three  lines  seem- 
ingly a  repetition  of  the  outline  of  the  mammoth's  back,  and  dare  we  here, 
with  our  meagre  data  as  to  ancient  Indian  picture-writing,  rest  satisfied  that 
these  three  lines  meant  "  shading  "  and  not  suggestions  of  the  conspicuous 
ridge  of  hair,  which  in  certain  reconstruction  extends  along  the  mammoth's 
back  from  neck  to  tail.  Dare  we  assert  that  they  rather  denote  indecision,  or 
"striving  for  eff'ect,"  such  shading  and  rounding  indeed  as  a  counterfeiter 
rather  than  an  ancient  Indian  would  have  made  use  of.  The  second  point  is, 
in  my  opinion,  the  strongest  and  the  only  very  strong  point  of  all,  the  authority 
of  Dr.  Brinton  and  Mr.  Wadsworth  to  say,  that  the  lines  were  cut  with  a  steel 
and  not  a  flint  instrument. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  341 

To  this  I  only  answei',  take  a  piece  of  shale,  scratch  upon  it  with  an  awl 
or  pair  of  scissors  and  then  with  a  fine  flint  arrow  head  or  a  beaver's  tooth, 
wash  the  stone  with  soap  and  w^ater  and  scrub  it  with  a  nail  brush,  as  the 
Lenape  Stone  had  been  several  times  w^ashed  and  scrubbed  before  Dr.  Brinton 
saw  it,  and  then  compare  the  lines  with  a  microscope;  it  is  then  w^e  see  that 
all  such  lines  whether  steel  cut,  bone  cut,  or  flint  cut,  are  indistinguishably 
alike  and  resemble  those  upon  the  Lenape  Stone,  provided  the  awd,  the  scis- 
sors, the  tooth,  or  the  arrow  head  have  been  similarly  grasped  and  pressed. 

Just  here  it  is  that  Mr.  Jennings  says  he  does  not  know  if  steel  cut  can  be 
distinguished  from  flint  cut  lines,  and  just  here  really  lies  the  question  of  the 
fraud  or  genuineness  of  the  Lenape  Stone ;  whether  it  be  a  marvel  of  counter- 
feiting skill,  or  an  important  factor  in  the  ethnological  history  of  North 
America.  If  a  larger  microscope  and  more  careful  examination  than  mine 
can  prove,  spite  of  soap  and  scrubbing  brush,  that  steel  cut  lines  are  always 
indistinguishable  from  any  kind  of  lines  that  the  ancient  Indian  could  have 
made  with  his  primitive  tools  of  bone  or  flint,  that  in  fact  the  lines  of  the 
Lenape  carving  are  surely  steel  cut,  then  we  must  admit  that  the  stone  is 
either  a  fraud,  or  the  work  of  an  Indian  living  since  the  16th  century  who 
knew  the  use  of  the  white  man's  iron  and  steel. 

My  experience  has  been  that  the  difference  between  steel  and  flint  cut 
lines  is  not  in  the  "  clean  incisions  deepest  in  the  center  and  tapering  to 
points,"  or  in  their  "  depth  and  regularity,"  a  flint  instrument  being  capable  of 
fulfilling  these  conditions  if  properly  held,  pressed  and  directed,  but  rather  in 
the  fact  that  faint  scratches  are  seen  along  the  bottom  of  the  flint-cut  groove 
less  observable  in  the  other  and  it  is  these  very  scratches,  due  to  the  rough- 
ness of  the  flint  point,  and  shown  by  the  microscope  when  the  lines  are 
freshly  cut,  which  washing  and  scrubbing  obliterate  upon  soft  shale. 

And  I  beg  again  with  deference,  to  point  out  that  in  the  almost  entire 
absence  of  pre-historic  pictographs  on  small  stones  neither  Doctor  Brinton  nor 
Mr.  Wadsworth  nor  any  one  can  ever  have  made  a  sufficient  comparison  of 
ancient  flint  or  bone  cut  and  modern  steel  cut  lines  to  warrant  the  inference 
that  the  Lenape  carving,  washed  and  cleaned  as  it  had  been,  as  Mr.  Paxson 
unwittingly  and  to  our  lasting  regret  washed  and  cleaned  it,  has  been  made 
with  a  steel  instrument. 

Beyond  the  above  evidence  archseologists  have  not  gone,  and  there  is  a 
little  further  to  be  proved.  Neither  Hansell,  Mr.  Paxson,  Captain  Bailey,  nor 
myself  can  prove  that  we  did  not  make  the  carving.  I  can  only  testify  to 
the  knowledge  of  Mr.  Paxson,  so  too  can  I  testify  to  my  knowledge  of  Captain 
Bailey,  and  so  might  I  argue  as  to  myself.  As  for  our  respective  archaeo- 
logical knowledge  six  years  ago,  I  at  least  know  how  sufficiently  it  was 
evidenced  b}'  my  own  utter  astonishment  at  finding  the  Jefferson  tradition,  a 
foreknowledge  of  which  would  have  been  the  counterfeiter's  chief  inspiration, 
and  the  astonishment  no  less  marked  of  Captain  Bailey  and  Mr.  Paxson  on 
first  hearing  of  it. 


342  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

But  who,  after  Dr.  Brinton's  condemnation,  will  listen  when  I  speak  of 
Hansell,  of  Mr.  Paxson  and  his  father,  of  Captain  Bailey  and  of  myself,  or 
heed  the  avowal  that  we  are  not  in  collusion  with  each  other  or  with  an 
unknown  person,  no  trace  of  whom  has  ever  appeared,  who  possessed  the 
archaeological  knowledge  and  skill  which  we  all  most  assuredly  lacked. 

If  it  availed,  I  might  tell  of  innumerable  conversations  with  all  the 
persons  concerned,  of  my  frequent  journeys  to  the  farm,  and  careful  investi- 
gation of  every  colorable  circumstance  suggested  by  my  friends.  The  inde- 
scribable impression  made  upon  me  by  a  first  sight  of  the  tradition  in 
Jefferson's  Notes  and  its  marvellous  similarity  noted  point  by  point  with  the 
carving ;  but  let  me  leave  it  rather,  to  turn  to  facts  which  at  this  late  moment 
I  consider  most  important  of  all ;  I  mean  the  subsequent  discovery  of  several 
fire-sites,  and  three  carved  stones  upon  the  Hansell  farm.  (Appendix  to 
Lenape  Stone,  figs.  19,  20  and  23.) 

And  now  the  archaeologist  must  listen :  If  since  the  discussion,  numerous 
relics  have  been  found,  and  among  them  three  carved  stones,  two  of  which 
Professor  Putnam  pronounces  genuine  (the  third  never  having  been  sent  to 
Cambridge)  these  neglected  relics  should  be  carefully  studied,  for  we  have  at 
once  in  them  aboriginal  carvings  with  which  to  compare  the  Lenape  Stone, 
and  facts  to  prove : 

(a)  That  the  Hansell  farm  was  a  center  of  aboriginal  life,  and  (6)  that 
carved  stones  however  rare  elsewhere  were  not  infrequent  there. 

If  there  are  three  discolored  spots  upon  the  Hansell  property  noted  since 
the  discovery  of  Lenape  Stone,  marking  as  is  probable,  sites  of  aboriginal 
fires,  they  should  be  explored  with  spade  and  sieve,  and  if  finally  there  is 
prejudice  in  the  minds  of  any  of  us,  it  should  be  brushed  away  to  make  room 
for  a  liberal  enthusiam  in  the  light  of  discoveries  which  may  here,  after  the 
lapse  of  several  years,  reward  the  efforts  of  the  explorer. 

NOTES  BY  JOHN  S.  BAILEY  OF  BUCKINGHAM. 

Esquire  Paxson  speaks  of  Dr.  Wilson's  place,  Elm  Grove,  at  the  foot  of  the 
hill.  He  was  followed  by  John  McGoffin,  who  moved  to  Bristol  and  died  there. 
Then  Harvey  Shaw,  who  moved  to  Norristown  and  recently  died  there ;  he 
sold  to  George  G.  Maris  in  1856,  son  of  Richard  Maris  and  Rachel,  who  was  a 
granddaughter  of  Thomas  Ross,  one  of  the  early  ministers  at  the  Meeting 
close  by.  Mr.  Maris  resided  here  until  his  death  in  1887.  He  was  a  gentle- 
man of  refined  tastes  and  abilities.  He  was  president  of  the  Lahaska  Insur- 
ance Company  for  about  twenty  years,  and  always  an  active  worker  for  the 
Centreville  Church.  In  1858  his  gardener  was  arrested  for  the  murder  of 
Joseph  Saunders  who  lived  in  a  small  house  at  Ash's  Mill,  just  across  the 
field  from  Mr.  Maris's,  who  was  so  strongly  impressed  in  the  belief  of  his 
man's  innocence  that  he  employed  Thomas  Ross,  a  noted  lawyer  of  Doyles- 


Mk.  THOMAS  MacKELLAR,  (See  Hymn,  Page  263.) 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  345 

town,  for  his  defence.  It  was  an  exciting  trial.  Public  opinion  was  against 
Alexander  Rico  and  Saunders'  wife,  yet  they  were  acquitted. 

Mrs.  Maris  who  was  a  daughter  of  John  Buckraan  of  Solebury  still  resides 
at  Elm  Grove. 

At  the  bridge,  just  opposite  to  Mr.  Maris,  recently  lived  Daniel  Smith 
who  now  lives  just  above  Centreville  on  the  Durham  Road.  This  old  man  is 
one  of  the  finest  specimens  of  old  age  to  be  found,  quick  of  foot  and  a  well 
balanced  mind.  Born  September  21,  1795.  His  mother  who  died  in  1854 
reached  100  years,  except  33  days. 

BUCKINGHAM  HILL  AT  THE  MEETING  HOUSE. 

The  road  was  originally  laid  out  near  the  graveyard  wall  and  the  old 
roadbed  is  plainly  seen  with  thrifty  young  trees  growing  within  its  lines. 

In  1849  Evan  Thomas  was  killed  on  the  hill  while  descending ;  nearly 
halfway  down  he  slipped  on  the  lumber  he  was  hauling  and  fell  between  the 
wheels.  It  was  a  sorrowful  funeral  of  one  of  the  best  citizens.  He  was 
buried  in  the  graveyard  nearly  opposite  to  where  he  met  his  death.  In  1882 
Aunt  Amy,  his  devoted  wife,  w^as  laid  by  his  side. 

In  1854  an  Irishman  slipped  from  a  load  of  hay  and  was  run  over  and 
killed  near  the  same  place.  Many  other  serious  accidents  have  occurred  on 
this  noted  hill. 

Honest  old  Peter  Keenan  worked  on  the  turnpike  from  the  meeting  house 
to  Ingham  Spring ;  it  was  his  great  delight  to  be  praised  as  to  how  well  he 
kept  the  road-bed,  ditches  open,  loose  stone  picked  up,  for  thirty  years.  He 
was  on'  hand  in  almost  all  kinds  of  weather.  He  lived  in  part  of  a  barn 
rudely  fitted  up  with  one  room  below  and  one  above.  He  thought  it  a  palace 
alongside  of  his  mud  shanty  of  Ireland. 

CENTREVILLE. 

Two  hundred  yards  west  of  the  Hughesian  school  house  on  the  upper  side 
of  the  road  stood  a  Revolutionary  relic,  a  log  house.  In  the  upper  end  of 
the  town  on  the  turnpike  was  an  old  frame  shanty  called  Black  Horse.  A 
vigilance  committee  composed  of  many  of  the  leading  citizens  decided  it 
should  be  tenanted  no  longer.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  31st  of  March,  1856, 
the  tenants  were  quietly  moved  away  and  in  the  evening  Black  Horse  was 
blown  up  with  gunpowder,  and  at  the  signal  of  explosion,  which  shook  the 
town,  the  log  house  w^as  torn  down  by  a  number  of  active  workers.  This 
high-handed  act  is  still  secretly  spoken  about.  The  owner,  Thomas  Broadhurst, 
lived  at  the  house  now^  called  the  Upper  Hotel.  He  built  the  house  as  well 
as  the  buildings  on  the  back  street  which  were  used  as  a  foundry  and  machine 
shop  for  the  manufacture  of  the  heavy  go  around  four  to  six  horse  powers. 


346  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

The  coach  works  now  going  to  decay  were  the  first  and  largest  in  the 
country  at  their  day.  Started  by  Henry  Corson  about  1840,  who  built  the 
store  house  opposite,  late  the  residence  of  James  C.  Iden.  Corson  was  followed 
by  Isaiah  B.  Matthews  about  1850.  The  works  were  then  in  full  blast ;  car- 
riages were  sent  to  England,  India,  and  Western  States.  Wm.  Corson  was 
chief  blacksmith  and  Scott  Bray,  trimmer,  and  Jimmy  West,  painter.  Grad- 
ually the  works  have  done  less,  owing  to  many  other  shops  put  up  in  the 
adjacent  towns,  and  the  mammoth  w^orks  at  Plumsteadville. 

Isaac  Duckworth  lived  many  years  in  Centreville ;  he  was  of  bright,  quick 
turn  of  mind,  and  became  a  noted  architect  in  New  York  city  where  he  died 
in  1883. 

CENTREVILLE  HOTEL  AFTER  ELISHA  WILKINSON'S  TIME. 

Cornelius  Vanhorn  kept  this  house  for  several  years  and  died  there  in 
1813. 

Isaac  McCarty  kept  it  in  1839 ;   Sam'l  Thatcher  in  1847 :  then  Edward 

Vansant ;    Casper  Yeager  from,  say  '50  to  '58 ;    followed  by Davis  as 

tenant,  Corson  next  who  sold  to  Peter  L.  Righter  in  1863,  who  still  holds  the 
same.  The  quaint  old  gables  and  dormers  were  removed  in  1872  when  the 
present  mansard  roof  was  put  on  w4th  many  other  improvements. 

STORE  PROPERTY. 

The  first  store  in  Centreville  was  kept  in  the  old  house  at  the  Hughesian 
Place.  The  old  house  was  torn  down  in  1859,  the  walls  were  of  narrow 
pointed  stone — oaken  floors  and  yellow  pine  joists.  The  house  was  built  about 
one  hundred  years  or  before  1763.  The  staples  for  the  sign  were  on  the  east 
end  of  the  house.     Persons  were  living  in  1859  who  had  known  it  as  a  store. 

The  new  or  west  end  of  the  store  house  was  built  in  1832  and  was  occupied 
by  Benjamin  and  Moses  Hall  in  1852 — Kirk  &  W^alton  in  1859 — Andrew 
Craven  in  1861 ;  in  1866  Elisha  Worthington  bought  it  and  the  property  has 
been  in  the  family  since  that  time. 

NEAR  CENTREVILLE  (EAST.) 

The  log  house  near  the  creamery  was  built  at  an  early  date  and  perhaps 
is  the  oldest  house  in  the  vicinity,  being  built  by  one  of  the  Larges.  John 
Large  took  up  a  large  tract  of  land  on  both*  sides  of  the  road  in  1705.  A 
grandson  of  John  lived  in  this  house  while  the  new  house  was  being  built 
down  Large's  Lane.  The  new  house  served  for  John,  who  was  followed  by 
his  son  William,  who  died  there  November  24,  1860.  Then  W^illiam  Corson 
bought,  followed  by  Joseph  Brooks  to  the  present  owner  Samuel  Broadhurst. 
William  Large  was  father  of  Charles  P.  Large  who  was  a  carpenter  for  many 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  347 

years,  and  bought  the  sawmill  at  Cuttalossa  in  1853.  He  lived  opposite  to 
the  church  in  Centreville,  fitted  up  the  house  with  mansard  roof  in  1875. 
This  was  part  of  the  original  John  Large  tract  and  has  never  been  out  of  the 
lineal  descendants  of  the  family.  Charles  P.  Large  was  an  earnest  hard 
working  man.  He  died  in  1878.  His  son,  I.  Simpson  who  was  in  partner- 
ship with  his  father  now  resides  at  the  old  place. 

Joseph  Large  built  and  lived  where  Howard  Atkinson  now  lives.  The 
house  was  built  of  good  grit  stone,  narrow  pointed ;  small  windows.  Painted 
eaves.  Large  fire  places  and  fine  high  ceilings.  The  house  stood  due  north 
and  south.  The  present  house  was  erected  on  the  site  of  the  old  one  by  Lewis 
Anderson  1877. 

North  of  this  place  are  the  old  Quarry  buildings.  During  the  Revolu- 
tion, Israel  and  James  Anderson  lived  here  and  carried  on  shoemaking.  An 
incident  is  related  that  having  an  army  contract  on  hand  for  shoes,  they  saw 
some  soldiers  coming  toward  the  house.  At  once  all  the  finished  work  was 
hidden.  The  soldiers  found  shoes  in  all  stages  of  completion  except  done. 
They  went  away  in  ill  humor,  not  thinking  to  look  in  the  oven  while  making 
their  search. 

CENTRE VILLE  TOLL-GATE. 

Levi  Hartley  kept  the  gate  for  over  twenty  years.  He  was  a  broom- 
maker  by  trade  which  assisted  his  income  from  the  gate.  His  large  honest 
face  and  good  brooms  were  a  pleasure  to  see. 

Oliver  Heath  his  well-known  successor  tended  for  about  fifteen  years. 

Mordecai  Carver  and  old  Mr.  Carpenter  kept  the  gate  for  about  two  years, 
when  the  present  keeper,  Aaron  Carver  took  charge  about  1882.  He  was  a 
blacksmith  by  trade  and  built  the  shop  opposite  to  the  church.  In  good 
times  the  ring  of  his  anvil  was  heard  early  and  late.  He  was  hurt  on  the 
head  by  a  piece  of  timber  at  a  barn  moving  and  active  work  ceased,  yet  as  a 
gate  keeper  he  is  vigilant  and  can  furnish  change  with  alacrity. 

Jacob  Moyer  built  the  house  where  Mr.  Shearer  lives,  in  1863.  Jacob  was  a 
practical  slate  roofer.     He  died  about  1867. 

HOLICONG  OR  GREENVILLE. 

The  store  property  was  fitted  up  as  a  store  by  I.  W.  Case  in  1858.  Mr. 
Case  was  elected  Recorder  of  Deeds  in  1872. 

He  remained  at  Doylestown  and  pursued  his  occupation  as  surveyor  and 
clerk  of  sales,  an  excellent  hand,  ready  and  intelligent;  he  died  at  Doylestown 
about  1880. 

Silas  H.  Beans  took  the  store  in  1873  and  he  was  elected  to  fill  Mr.  Case's 
place  as  Recorder  in  1875.     After  three  years  at  Doylestown  he  returned  to 


348  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

his  farm  on  the  road  one  mile  above  Greenville,  where  he  lived  at  the  time 
of  his  death  in  June,  1889. 

Jacob  Kooker  and  Sheradin  Patterson  kept  the  store  prior  to  the  present 
owner,  Edwin  J.  Kirk,  who  has  occupied  the  place  since  1881. 

Nearly  opposite  the  store  property  lives  John  W.  Gilbert  who  carried  on 
the  tannery  for  about  thirty  years,  following  Hiel  Gilbert,  his  predecessor  who 
ran  the  works  for  sixteen  years.  The  main  works  were  built  by  Isaiah  Jones 
as  early  as  1800.  There  were  also  vats  and  workshop  just  opposite  to  the  store 
worked  by  John  Ely. 

John  W.  Gilbert  introduced  steam  in  his  tannery  in  1857,  the  first  engine 
and  boiler  in  the  country — a  novelty  and  success.  John  did  much  work  in 
war  times  when  the  Government  used  thousands  of  tons  of  leather;  fine  calf 
skins  went  up  to  a  fabulous  price.  A  great  revulsion  took  place  after  the  war 
and  Gilbert  closed  the  tannery. 

He  is  the  treasurer  of  the  Mutual  Fire  Company,  a  director  of  Doylestown 
Bank  and  an  active  supporter  and  subscriber  toward  the  new  railroad  that 
is  to  parallel  the  York  Road  to  New  Hope. 

The  public  school  house  was  built  during  the  Summer  of  1863.  The 
noted  Greenville  woods  along  the  York  Road  containing  15  acres,  was  cut 
off  in  1868.  Holicong  sink-hole  was  dry  in  1875  while  Ingham  Spring  had 
its  full  volume  of  water. 

LAHASKA. 

The  old  store  property  nearly  opposite  to  the  hotel  in  Lahaska,  was  occu- 
pied by  the  Parry's  after  moving  from  their  farm  above  Ash's  Mill ;  they  were 
the  children  of  John  Parry  and  Rachel  Fell.  Mary  died  in  1850,  aged  75 ; 
Tacy  died  in  1870,  aged  87  ;  David  died  in  1875,  aged  97  ;  Charity  in  1879, 
aged  98,  and  a  brother  Thomas  who  lived  at  Langhorne,  died  over  four  score. 

NOTES. 

William  Buck  in  his  Old  York  Road  article  says  "  he  remembers  the  old 
mile  stones  at  Samson's  and  Kerr's  Hill  and  desires  to  know  if  any  are  now 
standing." 

There  is  one  near  Ruckman's  on  the  Upper  York  Road,  one  at  the 
Lahaska  Bridge,  near  the  residence  of  the  late  George  G.  Maris,  and  in  Centre- 
ville,  under  the  steps  leading  to  the  hall  is  a  plastered  niche  in  the  wall  of  the 
old  store  shed  with  "  27  miles  to  P."  engraved  thereon. 

In  1858  Emmon  Walton  was  elected  County  Treasurer  for  one  year ;  he 
lived  on  the  Hughesian  farm  opposite  to  the  store.  Joseph  Watson  now  lives 
there. 

William  Corson,  blacksmith  at  the  coach  works,  was  elected  County 
Treasurer  in  1853,  for  one  year.     He  bought  the  hotel  shortly  after  and  kept 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  349 

the  same  until  1863,  then  moved  to  the  William  Large  farm  east  of  Centre- 
ville,  where  he  resided  for  about  two  years,  and  from  thence  he  moved  to  the 
Fountain  House  at  Doylestown,  which  he  remodeled  and  made  famous  as  one 
of  the  best  hotels  in  Eastern  Pennsylvania.     He  died  there. 

After  search  among  my  papers  for  matter  relative  to  Mr.  William  Stavely 
I  found  much  the  best  account  given  in  "  Warner's  History  of  Bucks,  page 
1709 ;"  it  comprises  about  all  that  I  know  and  is  well  prepared  and  was  fur- 
nished by  one  of  the  family.     . 

During  Rev.  Mr.  Gries'  connection  with  the  104th  Regiment  as  Chaplain 
he  baptized  56  men.  History  of  104  gives  full  account  of  his  services.  He 
was  Rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Doylestown. 

There  should  be  a  favorable  mention  of  Dr.  Charles  HufFnagle's  services, 
who  lived  near  New  Hope,  and  was  consul  to  India  for  thirty  years. 

I  enclose  an  article  on  the  hermit  of  Buckingham  Mountain.  The  Wolf 
Rock  and  cave  are  visible  at  all  seasons  from  the  York  Road  near  Centreville. 

The  cave  was  known  to  him  when  a  boy,  keeping  his  rabbit  traps  there 
during  the  summer  months. 

The  cave  yet  exists  about  six  feet  square  and  three  feet  in  height  with  a 
short  low  vestibule  leading  thereto  through  which  one  must  creep  to  reach 
the  main  entrance. 

The  oldest  stage  route  notice  I  have  is  Swift  Sure,  revived  1832.  New 
York,  Flemington  to  Philadelphia. 

Centreville  took  an  active  part  during  the  rebellion.  Her  central  loca- 
tion at  the  crossing  of  two  famous  roads  brought  recruiting  officers  into  town 
almost  daily.  Mild  evenings  the  shrill  notes  of  the  fife  and  tap  of  the  drum 
could  be  heard  for  miles.  The  rustic  youth  would  walk  into  town  and  the 
music,  brass  buttoned  clothes,  good  pay  and  a  chance  to  see  the  country 
would  do  the  work.  Next  day  he  could  be  a  full  equipped  soldier  on  his 
way  to  the  seat  of  war. 

War  meetings  were  held.  Ladies  Aid  Societies  formed,  bounties  off'ered, 
drafts  ordered,  conscientious  oaths  administered,  draft  followed  draft,  bounties 
increased,  and  substitutes  received  from  $150  to  $1,800  pay  for  nine  months. 

The  following  enlisted  ofiicers  and  men  were  from  Centreville : 

Captain  Andrew  Craven,  mustered  into  Company  M.,  89th  Regiment 
Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  October  5, 1861,  for  three  years.  This  was  intended 
as  a  rifle  regiment  but  subsequently  was  changed  to  the  8th  Pennsylvania 
Cavalry.  Owing  to  ill  health  he  resigned  July  21st,  1862 ;  at  enlistment  he 
was  store  keeper.  Shortly  after  his  return  from  the  army  he  moved  to  Doyles- 
town where  he  died. 

Lieutenant  Emmor  Walton,  farmer  on  the  Hughesian  place,  enlisted 
October  4th,  1861, 8th  Pennsylvania  Cavalry,  was  promoted  Second  Lieutenant 
Company  E,  July  16,  1862,  now  lives  in  Philadelphia. 

Sergeant  Sam'l  Yeager,  enlisted  September  19th,  1861,  transferred  to 
Company  C,  November,  1864,  Veteran. 


350  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Corporal  George  W.  Timhook,  tinsmith,  enlisted  September  19th,  1861, 
transferred  to  Company  C,  November,  1864. 

David  P.  Nuld,  painter,  enlisted  September  19th,  1861. 

I.  R.  Vanluscance,  laborer,  enlisted  September  24,  1861. 

(The  above  members  of  8th  Pennsylvania  Cavalry.) 

Jordan  Cooper,  enlisted  Company  C,  Captain  Warren  Marple,  104th  Penn- 
sylvania Volunteers  for  three  years,  September,  1861,  at  Camp  Lacy,  Doyles- 
town.     Wounded  at  Fair  Oaks.     Mustered  out  with  Regiment  October  1, 1864. 

John  M.  Rich,  carpenter,  enlisted  in  Durell's  Battery  at  Doylestown, 
Camp  Lacy,  September  24,  1861,  he  was  discharged  for  disability  March  7, 
1863.  Died  in  Memphis,  Tennessee,  August  31st,  1888,  from  disease  contracted 
while  in  the  war. 

Thaddeus  Paxson,  carpenter,  enlisted  into  Company  F,  114th  Regiment 
Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  Zouave  d'Afrique,  Captain  Frank  Elliot,  August 
15th,  1862,  for  three  years.  He  died  of  camp  fever  in  Virginia,  January, 
1863,  was  brought  home  and  buried  in  the  Friends  graveyard  at  Solebury. 

J.  Smith  Duckworth,  laborer,  enlisted  August  19th,  1862,  Company  H, 
Captain  Lazarus  C.  Andres,  138th  Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  for  three  years, 
transferred  to  Company  A,  6th  Regiment  Veterans  R.  C,  September  26th, 
1863,  he  was  discharged  with  general  order  July  6th,  1865.  He  died  at 
Hospital,  Bucks  County,  July  6th,  1885 — was  buried  at  Friends  graveyard, 
Buckingham, 

Martin  Sheaf,  laborer,  drafted  October  16th,  1862,  mustered  into  Company 
E,  174th  Pennsylvania  Militia,  October  31st,  1862,  for  nine  months. 

John  S.  Bailey,  builder,  drafted  October  16,  1862,  elected  Captain  of 
Company  E,  174th  Pennsylvania  Militia,  October  31st,  1862. 

George  Niblick,  substitute  for  George  Warner  of  AVrightstown,  mustered 
into  Company  E,  174th  Pennsylvania  Militia,  October  31st,  1862,  mustered 
out  with  the  Regiment,  August  7,  1863.  Enlisted  January  23,  1864,  Captain 
Wm.  R.  Hubbs  for  three  years,  or  the  war,  in  Goslin  Zouaves,  95tli  Regiment 
Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  transferred  to  Company  C,  November  2,  1864, 
mustered  out  July  17,  1865.     Died  soon  after  the  war. 

Theodore  Hough,  enlisted  in  Goslin  Zouaves  January  29,  1864,  for  three 
years  or  the  war.  Company  C,  Captain  Elisha  Hall,  95th  Regiment  Pennsyl- 
vania Volunteers,  mustered  out  July  17th,  1865.  Died  in  Philadelphia  about 
1882. 

William  Harris,  an  old  veteran,  died  at  Hospital,  Bucks  County,  about 
1883.  He  enlisted  from  Centreville  and  called  it  his  home  after  the  war,  but 
there  is  nothing  definite  as  to  regiment  in  service. 

Joseph  Chambers,  carpenter  enlisted  in  Captain  Cadwallader's  Company 
G,  Second  Regiment  of  Heavy  Artillery,  Pennsylvania,  contracted  disease 
during  his  term  of  service  and  died  April  10th,  1869;  was  buried  at  Bucking- 
ham Friends  burying  ground.     When  a  young  man,  not  of  age,  he  studied 


THE  YORK  KOAD.  351 

dentistry  and  went  to  the  United  States  of  Colombia,  South  America,  to 
practice  his  profession. 

I  add  to  Mr.  Bailey's  Notes  that  Centreville  once  rejoiced  in  the 
euphonious  name  of  Snaptown.     The  post-office  name  is  Buckingham. 

Mr.  Buck  gives  me  the  following  account  of  local  names.  Beartow^n, 
Green  Tree,  and  the  Bush,  now  Bushington  are  indications  of  rural  life. 

Greenville  is  now  Holicong  post-office.  Indian  names  are  wisely  used  in 
this  romantic  and  picturesque  region,  where  the  hills  and  streams  would  be 
envious  if  their  old  companions  were  forgotten.  Greenville  is  the  old  Grin- 
town,  said  to  have  been  so  styled  by  a  man  who  was  driving  some  animals  or 
geese  through  the  place,  and  having  trouble  in  guiding  his  flock  was 
laughed  at  by  the  inhabitants. 

Aquetong,  and  the  Great  Spring;  Indian  Spring  and  Ingham's  Spring, 
near  the  place  of  the  Park  meetings  are  interesting  "fountains  of  water." 
There  are  fish  ponds  at  both  places. 

On  the  10th  of  December,  A.  D.  1776,  Washington  was  at  Bogart's 
tavern,  now  Centreville,  in  Buckingham  township,  whence  he  wrote  General 
Ewing,  at  Sherred's  ferry  at  New  Hope,  to  send  16  Durham  boats,  and  four 
flats  to  McKonkey's  ferry  as  soon  as  possible.  This  was  before  the  attack  by 
AVashington  on  Trenton.  "  Washington  on  the  West  Bank  of  the  Delaware." 
(Pa.  Mag.  of  Hist.,  Vol  4,  p.  138.     By  General  W.  W.  H.  Davis.) 


TRINITY    CHURCH. 

By  the  courtesy  of  Rev.  J.  Thompson  Carpenter,  missionary-in-charge  of 
Trinity  Church,  Centreville,  I  bave  been  kindly  allowed  to  examine  the 
church  record.     Centreville  lies  in  Buckingham  township. 

In  the  summer  of  1837,  Rev.  G.  W.  Ridgeley  held  a  few  services  at  this 
point,  preaching  in  the  woods.  He  afterward  preached  occasionally  in  Mr. 
Gibson's  coach  shop. 

In  A.  D.  1839,  in  the  month  of  April  a  meeting  was  held  at  which  Mr. 
Ridgeley  presided,  and  Mr.  Edwin  Yerkes  acted  as  secretary.  William  Stavely, 
Joseph  Anderson  and  Edwin  Yerkes  were  appointed  a  committee  to  erect  a 
church.  William  Stavely,  Doctor  Gregory,  Joseph  Anderson,  John  Case, 
Aaron  Ely,  Joel  Worthington  and  Edwin  Yerkes  were  appointed  to  act  as  a 
vestry  before  organization.  The  committee  to  receive  subscriptions  was  Doctor 
Malone,  Isaac  McCarty,  Charles  P.  Large,  Doctor  Pettit  and  William  Beans. 

The  building  was  begun  on  October  3,  A.  D.  1839,  and  finished  in  July 
1840.  Before  the  church  was  completed  Mr.  Ridgeley  held  monthly  services 
in  it,  and  did  the  same  after  it  was  finished,  closing  his  rectorship  September 
10,  1841. 


352  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Rev.  C.  Wiltberger  succeeded  him  in  the  same  ye&T,  officiating  on  Sunday 
afternoons,  and  after  a  short  time  taking  alternate  Sundays,  on  account  of  the 
distance  in  driving  from  Hulmeville,  his  other  parish. 

William  Stavely  and  Edwin  Yerkes  became  wardens. 

After  Mr.  Wiltberger's  resignation  Rev.  George  P.  Hopkins  did  tem- 
porary duty.  When  he  resigned  St.  Paul's  Church,  Doylestown,  in  1853  this 
arrangement  ceased. 

In  1854  Rev.  Rees  0.  Evans  became  rector  of  Doylestown  and  Centreville. 

The  vestry  election  in  1854  was  held  in  James  Gilkyson's  law  office. 
William  Stavely  and  William  Alexander  were  wardens  and  William  Stavely, 
and  Albert  S.  Paxson  delegates  to  the  Diocesan  Convention. 

In  1856  Rev.  William  R.  Gries  was  rector. 

In  1858  William  J.  Biles  was  rector's  warden. 

Mr.  Gries  resigned  in  1861,  having  accepted  the  chaplaincy  of  the  Ring- 
gold Regiment.  He  had  been  rector  six  years,  I  suppose  in  connection  with 
Doylestown.  The  vestry  note  the  faithful  and  laborious  energy  of  this 
good  man. 

Rev.  John  Tetlow  was  from  186^  to  1864. 

Rev.  Dr.  Calhoun  became  a  temporary  supply  until  August  1,  1864. 

Rev.  Byron  McGann,  of  Polo,  Illinois,  became  rector  of  Doylestown  and 
Centreville  in  1864.  When  he  resigned  the  vestry  recorded  the  harmonious 
relations  of  the  four  years  service  of  this  devoted  and  beloved  minister  of 
Christ. 

In  1868  Rev.  H.  Baldy  entered  on  the  rectorship  of  Doylestown  and 
Centreville. 

In  1871  it  was  resolved  to  plant  evergreen  trees  and  clean  and  repair  the 
graveyard.  In  1873  Mr.  Baldy  resigned,  and  the  resignation  was  accepted 
with  regret  and  sorrow. 

In  1874  Rev.  J.  Thompson  Carpenter  became  rector. 

William  Stavely  died  in  1877,  and  the  church  was  draped  in  mourning 
to  express  a  sense  of  the  great  loss. 

The  parish  of  Centreville  has  a  rectory. 

At  Centre  Hill  Trinity  Chapel  is  under  the  care  of  the  Convocation  of 
Germantown.  The  Bible  and  Prayer  Book  of  Trinity  Church,  Centreville 
were  in  1877  presented  to  this  chapel. 

In  1879  Mr.  Carpenter  resigned ;  the  vestry  expressing  their  good  wishes 
to  their  departing  rector  who  was  going  to  Kansas. 

The  same  year  Rev.  Anthonj'  G.  B^ker  became  rector.  He  resigned 
in  1881. 

In  1882  at  a  vestry  meeting  at  George  G.  Maris's  house  Rev.  J.  T. 
Carpenter  was  elected  rector  for  the  second  time.  He  resigned  in  1884  to  the 
regret  of  the  parish.  Rev.  Howard  T.  Widemer  was  in  1884  elected  rector, 
during  his  rectorship  of  Doylestown,  and  held  both  parishes.  In  1886  Rev. 
J.  F.  Taunt,  rector  of  Doylestown  was  called  to  Centreville  as  an  additional 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  353 

work,  as  the  secretary,  Henry  D,  Paxson  records.  In  1887  Mr.  Taunt 
resigned.  His  successor  at  Doylestown,  Rev.  George  N.  Eastman,  served  this 
parish  to  some  extent,  and  Rev.  J.  T.  Carpenter  has  now  resumed  the  charge. 
William  Stavely  finds  a  well  deserved  notice  in  Battle's  History  which 
we  will  condense.  He  was  born  in  Shrewsbury,  Maryland.  At  fifteen  he  was 
apprenticed  to  Thomas  J.  Stiles  who  published  "  The  True  American."  In 
1823  he  purchased  John  H.  Cunningham's  business  and  became  a  printer  at 
Third  and  Dock  Streets,  and  was  afterward  on  Pearl  Street  near  St.  Paul's 
Church.  His  wife  was  Margaret,  daughter  of  George  Sheed.  Mr.  Stavely 
published  "  The  Episcopal  Register,"  afterward  known  as  "  The  Church,"  and 
now  published  by  C.  E.  Hering  at  the  Globe  Printing  House,  112  North 
Twelfth  Street,  and  edited  for  some  time  by  Rev.  Dr.  W.  C.  French  and  his  son 
Rev.  T.  B.  French.  It  was  then  called  "  The  Standard  of  the  Cross  and  the 
Church,"  and  now  "  The  Church  Standard."  Rev.  Dr.  John  Fulton  and  Rev. 
W.  C.  French  are  the  present  editors.  Mr.  Stavely  also  published  an  edition 
of  the  Prayer  Book.  He  returned  to  Third  and  Dock  Streets  and  took  James 
McCalla  into  partnership,  under  the  firm  name  of  Stavely  &  McCalla,  long 
known  in  Philadelphia.  In  1839  he  bought  Garret  Bryan's  300  acre  farm  in 
Solebury  and  added  the  adjoining  Brown  estate,  becoming  a  large  farmer  as 
well  as  publisher.  He  was  generous  to  the  church  and  was  a  Vestryman  and 
the  Sunday  School  Superintendent  at  Old  Swedes'  Church,  Philadelphia, 
assisted  the  Church  of  the  Ascension  and  St.  Paul's  Church,  Doylestown,  and 
Trinity  Church,  Centreville.  He  gave  a  rectory  to  the  Centreville  Church. 
The  Episcopal  Church  lost  much  in  his  death.  He  was  the  President  of  the 
Bucks  County  Bible  Society  and  the  Bucks  County  Agricultural  Society,  and 
other  societies.  Mr.  Stavely  was  the  first  man  to  use  a  mowing  machine  in  the 
County.  In  1872  he  celebrated  his  golden  wedding  when  many  showed  their 
esteem.  He  died  in  1877,  aged  77.  This  truly  Christian  man  was  buried  at 
Centreville.  One  son  continued  the  printing  business  but  is  now  dead. 
Another  son  is  Dr.  W.  R.  Stavely,  a  well  known  practitioner  of  medicine  in 
this  neighborhood.     A  noble  monument  marks  Mr.  Stavely's  grave. 

SOLEBURY. 

This  well  watered  township  is  specially  celebrated  for  its  great  spring  at 
Aquetong,  which  lies  on  our  route  and  we  will  again  glean  from  Davis's 
History  concerning  it.  John  Cutler  and  George  White  were  large  land 
owners  in  this  township  in  early  days.  Thomas  Canby,  "  an  original  settler," 
had  eleven  daughters.  James  Pellar  owned  hundreds  of  acres  "  on  the  Upper 
York  and  Carversville  Roads,  on  which  he  built  a  dwelling  in  1689.  It  was 
torn  down  in  1793."  He  had  a  son  named  James  who  was  of  note  in  Bucks 
County  and  esteemed  by  Franklin  as  a  scholar.  John  Ruckman,  John 
Gilbert,  Frederick  Pearson  and  John  Betts  have  farms  on  the  Pellar  tract. 
The  English  artist,  James  Pellar  Malcolm,  was  a  grandson  of  James  Pellar. 
23 


354  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

The  Solebury  meeting  house  and  graveyard  are  on  Joseph  Pike's  tract. 

Robert  Heath  had  a  grist-mill  "  on  the  Great  Spring  Stream,"  which  was 
built  in  1707.  In  1712  Philip  Williams  had  a  "fulling-mill  on  this  tract." 
"  The  first  sawmill  was  erected  about  ]  740."  Benjamin  Canby  built  a  forge 
on  the  stream.  After  his  widow  died,  about  1760,  at  the  ferry,  John  Coryell 
bought  the  forge  property.  In  1828  William  Maris  purchased  the  grist-mill. 
In  digging  the  foundation  for  his  factory,  now  on  the  Huffnagle  estate,  "  a  log, 
cut  off  with  an  axe,  was  found  fifteen  feet  below  the  surface." 

The  Blackfans  of  this  township  were  originally  connected  with  Rebecca 
Cuspin,  a  second  cousin  of  William  Penn.  The  Eastburns  were  early  settlers. 
Jonathan  Ingham,  owner  of  the  Great  Spring,  was  the  son  of  Jonas  who  came 
from  England.  Jonathan's  son,  named  also  Jonathan,  became  a  noted  physi- 
cian. He  was  a  poet.  He  served  professionally  in  the  Revolutionary  Army, 
and  in  1793,  assisted  in  the  yellow  fever  epidemic  in  Philadelphia  and  died  of 
that  disease.  His  son,  Samuel  D.  Ingham,  found  assistance  in  study  from  a 
Scotchman  named  Craig.  He  walked  to  Philadelphia  and  back  one  night, 
thirty  miles,  to  get  a  needed  book.  He  became  a  Congressman,  Secretary  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  under  General  Jackson,  Secretary  of  the  United  States 
Treasury.  He  died  in  Trenton  in  1860.  James  Logan  granted  the  Ingham 
place  to  Jonathan  Ingham  in  1747.  A  ground-rent  goes  to  the  Loganian 
Library  in  Philadelphia.  The  librarianship  of  the  Philadelphia  Library, 
which  comprises  the  Loganian,  has  been  in  James  Logan's  family  until  lately. 

The  Ellicott  family  in  Solebury  were  relatives  of  those  at  Ellicott's  Mills, 
Maryland.  The  Townsend  house  was  an  antiquity  in  this  township.  John 
Schofield,  who  married  "  Ann  Lenoire,  a  French  Huguenot  lady,  who  had 
been  banished  from  Acadia,"  was  of  the  township,  and  an  ancestor  of  the 
Fells.  Robert  Thompson,  the  father-in-law  of  William  Neeley  had  a  mill 
near  the  Delaware  Canal  and  a  poor  man  could  find  flour  there  even  if  he  had 
no  money  to  pay  for  it.  General  Zebulon  M.  Pike  lived  at  Paxson's  Mill. 
His  father  named  Zebulon,  was  a  Lieutenant-Colonel  in  the  Revolution. 

•Krigler's  ancient  mill  at  Lumberton,  now  destroyed,  is  illustrated  by  a 
striking  picture  in  Davis's  History,  which  here  guides  our  notes.  "  In  1756  a 
road  was  laid  out  from  John  Rose's  Ferry  to  York  Road." 

Centre  Bridge  was  formerly  Howell's  Ferry.  Lumberville  and  Lumber- 
ton  lie  "  contiguous  on  the  Delaware  and  Centre  Bridge  below  on  the  river." 

There  "is  a  valuable  quarry  of  light-colored  granite"  at  Lumberton. 
John  E.  Kenderline,  who  formerly  owned  the  quarry  named  the  place 
Lumberton. 

Centre  Bridge  where  the  Old  York  Road  proper  touched  the  Delaware, 
was,  according  to  General  Davis's  History,  "  called  Reading's  ferry  soon  after 
1700,  from  John  Reading,  who  owned  the  ferry-house  on  the  New  Jersey 
side ;  and  afterward  Howell's  ferry,  from  the  then  owner.  It  was  so  called 
in  1770.  It  was  known  as  Mitchell's  ferry  before  the  present  century.  In 
1810  it  had  but  one  dwelling,  in  which  John  Mitchell  the  ferryman  lived, 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  355 

who  kept  the  tavern  there  for  many  years,  and  died  in  1824.  At  one  time  he 
represented  the  County  in  the  Assembly.  The  bridge  was  built  across  the 
river  in  1813,  when  it  took  the  name  of  Centre  Bridge,  half  way  between 
Lumberville  and  New  Hope.  Since  then  several  dwellings  and  two  stores 
have  been  erected.  The  post-office  was  established  at  Centre  Hill  in  1831, 
John  D.  Balderson  being  post-master,  but  changed  to  Centre  Bridge  in  1845." 

Carversville  was  originally  called  Milton.  Thomas  Carver  resided  there. 
There  is  a  pretty  Gothic  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  village. 

The  Solebury  Presbyterian  Church  has  been  repaired  and  beautified  by 
William  Neeley  Thompson  in  memory  of  his  father,  Thomas  M.  Thompson. 
A  loved  pastor,  Rev.  Dr.  Studdiford,  is  commemorated  in  a  memorial  window. 

A  headland  "at  the  lower  end  of  Lumberville"  is  called  Coppernose. 
William  Satterthwait.  a  poet  and  schoolmaster,  is  said  to  have  originated  the 
name  which  tradition  affirms  to  refer  to  copperhead  snakes.  Its  summit 
gives  a  fine  view  of  river  and  islands. 

The  Cuttalossa  empties  into  the  Delaware  below  this  point.  John  G. 
Whittier  lived  on  its  romantic  banks  "  during  parts  of  1839  and  1840,  on  the 
premises  now  owned  by  Watson  Scarborough." 

General  Davis  beautifully  describes  a  fountain  constructed  at  the  old 
grist-mill,  and  quotes  some  lines  of  Thaddeus  S.  Kenderline,  whom  he  styles 
"  Solebury's  sweetest  poet."     We  will  insert  a  part  of  the  poem : 

"  While  Cuttalossa's  waters 

Roll  murmuring  on  their  way,  / 

'Twixt  hazel  clumps  and  alders 

'Neath  old  oaks  gnarled  and  gray, 
While  just  across  the  valley 

From  the  old,  old  grist-mill  come 
The  water  wheel's  low  patter 

The  millstone's  drowsy  hum. 

"  Here  sparkling  from  its  birthplace, 

Just  up  the  rifted  hill, 
In  tiny  cascades  leaping 

Comes  down  a  little  rill, 
Till  in  a  plashing  fountain 

It  pours  its  crystal  tide 
Just  where  the  road  goes  winding 

To  the  valley  opening  wide." 

The  remains  of  a  copper  mine  are  on  Bowman's  Hill,  "  two  and  a  half 
miles  below  New  Hope." 

As  physicians  in  this  section  Davis  names  John  Wall,  who  "  studied  with 
Dr.  John  Wilson,"  David  Forst,  Charles  Cowdric,  who  *'  studied  with  Doctors 
D.  W.  C.  and  L.  L.  Hough,"  and  "the  Doctors  Ingham,  father  and  son." 

The  Great  Spring  or  Logan  or  Ingham  Spring  is  three  miles  from  New 
Hope  on  the  Old  York  Road.     "  It  pours  a  volume  of  cool,  pure  water  from  a 


356  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

ledge  of  redshale  and  limestone,  which  flows  down  to  the  Delaware  in  a 
stream  that  turns  several  mills.  It  was  a  favorite  resort  of  the  Indians,  and 
is  said  to  have  been  the  birthplace  of  Teedyuscung."  Davis  adds :  "  The 
last  Indian  children  in  the  township,  and  in  Buckingham,  went  to  school 
at  the  Red  school  house  on  the  Street  Road  in  1794,  with  the  father  of  the 
author,  then  a  small  boy." 

SOLEBURY  BAPTIST  CHURCH,  BY  REV.  GEORGE  H.  LARISON,  M.  D. 

At  the  foot  of  a  hillock  on  the  York  Road,  less  than  a  mile  east  of 
Lahaska,  early  in  the  present  century,  lived  a  man  by  the  name  of  Kenedy ; 
consequently  the  beautiful  gradual  sloping  rise  of  ground  that  the  road  passed 
over  was  called  for  a  time  Kenedy's  Hill,  and  after  his  death  Canada  Hill. 
Near  the  top  of  this  gradual  slope  stands  the  Solebury  Baptist  Church,  with 
its  cemetery  skirting  westerly  from  the  meeting  house  down  the  slope  along 
the  turnpike,  along  which  is  a  permanent  stone  enclosure.  The  church  is 
built  of  stone  with  basement,  and  will  seat  near  300  people  in  the  main 
audience  room.  It  is  in  Solebury  township,  in  consequence  of  which  it  took 
the  name  of  the  Solebury  Baptist  Church,  and  was  erected  there  in  the 
summer  of  1842,  about  the  time  the  church  was  constituted  under  the 
ministry  of  Rev.  George  Young.  He  was  followed  a  half  dozen  years  later  by 
Rev.  Mr.  Walters,  then  by  Rev.  Messrs.  Beardsley,  Hallowell,  Wright,  King 
and  Silas  Livermore,  whose  death  and  removals  left  the  church  in  an  unself- 
supporting  condition  in  1865,  and  public  worship  was  suspended  till  Novem- 
ber, 1869,  when  George  H.  Larison,  M.  D.,  a  practising  physician  of  Lam- 
bertville,  N.  J.,  served  the  church  as  pastor  in  connection  with  his  practice  for 
a  dozen  years.  In  the  second  year  of  his  ministry  68  persons  were  baptized 
into  the  fellowship  of  the  church  and  a  dozen  more  came  in  by  letter,  since 
which  time  the  congregations  have  been  larger  with  a  good  Sabbath  School 
and  other  meetings,  all  kept  up  with  interest. 

Rev.  George  H.  Larison's  ministry  was  blessed  with  another  revival 
about  four  years  later  and  a  large  number  again  were  added. 

The  Reading  Association  of  Baptist  Churches  held  their  fifth  annual 
meeting  with  this  church  in  September,  1879,  and  was  a  large  gathering. 
Rev.  Chas.  H.  Thomas  served  the  church  for  a  year  and  was  followed  for  over 
two  years  by  Rev.  C.  T.  Frame,  and  again  for  about  two  years  by  Rev.  George 
H.  Larison,  who  was  followed  by  Rev.  W.  P.  Hill  a  year  and  for  the  past  year 
by  Rev.  John  Huffnagle,  the  present  incumbent.  Under  the  early  ministry 
of  Dr.  George  H,  Larison  the  house  was  remodeled.  A  new  roof  was  put  on 
and  windows,  pulpit,  pews,  &c.,  all  were  made  new  and  it  was  heated  from 
heaters  in  the  basement. 

The  deacons  of  the  church  for  the  past  twenty  years  were  Henry  Kooker, 
John  Edwards,  William  Sands  and  William  Naylor,  with  John  Kooker 
church  clerk  and  William  Sands,  Superintendent  of  the  Sunday  School. 


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THE  YORK  ROAD.  359 

Aquetong  is  the  name  of  a  post-office  a  half  mile  east  of  the  church  on 
the  same  road  ;  the  place  was  formerly  called  Paxson's  Corners.  The  village 
contains  about  a  dozen  houses.  The  toll-gate  of  the  turnpike  is  here.  A  good 
store  has  been  kept  for  the  past  twenty  years.  Lime  burning  by  Jesse  Nay  lor, 
Esq.,  on  an  extensive  scale,  and  the  lime  is  of  an  excellent  quality.  On  the 
north  side  of  the  road  stands  the  old  Paxson  Mansion,  a  large  stone  structure 
erected  about  1790,  still  in  good  state  of  preservation  and  occupied  by  Elias 
Paxson,  Esq.  On  the  road  one-fourth  mile,  running  north  at  right  angles 
from  the  turnpike  are  the  fine  farm  buildings  and  former  home  of  ex-Sheriff 
James  Wilkinson,  now  residing  in  Doylestown.  This  place  was  noted  for  its 
extensive  lime  burning  for  more  than  one  hundred  years.  This  tract  of  land 
on  which  the  Solebury  Baptist  Church  and  the  village  of  Aquetong  now 
stands  was  an  original  property  of  eight  hundred  acres  owned  by  Jacob 
Holcombe,  a  prominent  preacher  of  the  Friends  meeting  in  Buckingham  from 
about  1705  to  1740.  He  lived  here,  only  a  distance  of  a  mile  from  the  Buck- 
ingham Meeting  House.  He  w^as  one  of  the  first  members  as  he  came  to  this 
place  from  Devonshire,  Triverton,  England,  about  1700.  He  had  other  trades 
and  was  a  brother  of  John  Holcombe  who  lived  four  miles  east  on  the  New 
Jersey  bank  of  the  Delaware  River  with  a  landed  property  of  over  twelve 
hundred  acres,  all  of  which  is  yet  in  possession  of  his  descendants.  (See 
Holcombe  Reunion  papers,  a  gathering  of  3,500  people  at  Mount  Airy,  N.  J., 
August  11,  1887.) 

Some  notes  concerning  that  devoted  servant  of  Christ,  Dr.  Larison, 
who  wrote  the  above  sketch,  will  be  found  in  the  history  of  Buckingham 
Baptist  Church  in  this  volume. 

I  will  add  to  Dr.  Larison's  narrative  that  Rev.  John  Huffnagle,  M.  D., 
was  ordained  in  Solebury  Baptist  Church  in  May,  A.  D.,  1888.  He  was  born 
and  grew  to  man's  estate  in  this  community,  so  that  the  neighborhood  feels 
an  interest  in  him.  The  Lambertville  Beacon  of  May  18th,  1888,  gives  an 
account  of  the  ordination. 

NEW  HOPE. 

CINTRA. 

Mr.  Richard  Elias  P^ly's  beautiful  dwelling  in  the  borough  of  New  Hope, 
on  the  hill  west  of  the  village,  is  on  our  right  as  we  approach  the  town. 

It  was  built  about  the  year  1816  by  William  Maris,  who  at  one  time 
visited  Cintra  near  Lisbon,  the  residence  of  the  Kings  of  Portugal  and  from 
one  of  the  wings  of  the  palace  obtained  the  design  for  his  house. 

In  1830  the  property  came  into  the  possession  of  Richard  Randolph,  of 
Philadelphia,  who  in  1834  sold  it  to  his  brother-in-law,  Elias  Ely,  father  of 
the  present  owner. 


360  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

The  house  was  very  substantially  built  with  very  thick  walls,  the 
divisions  being  18  inches  thick. 

William  Newbold  Ely,  son  of  Richard  Elias  Ely,  is  treasurer  of  the 
Girard  Life  Insurance,  Annuity  and  Trust  Company,  of  Philadelphia. 

A  good  country  walk  leads  from  the  town  to  Cintra,  following  the  side  of 
York  Road  from  the  built-up  portion  of  the  borough. 

There  is  a  porter's  lodge  at  the  entrance  of  Cintra. 

The  mansion  is  of  an  octagon  shape.  The  lawn  is  like  a  carpet  in  its 
verdant  smoothness,  and  hedges  guard  it  on  two  sides,  though  a  fence  in 
front  permits  the  occupants  of  Cintra  to  view  the  country. 

The  dining-room  is  a  fine  one,  and  all  the  rooms  have  high  ceilings. 

The  high  position,  as  is  usual  here,  commands  a  good  view. 

Washington  crossed  the  Delaware  River  at  New  Hope  several  times. 
Here  were  Well's  Falls. 

In  A.  D.  1798  the  village  is  marked  with  the  name  of  New  Hope  on  the 
private  map  of  Benjamin  Parry.  Perhaps  the  name  was  then  changing. 
There  is  a  portrait  of  Mr.  Parry  in  Battle's  History  of  Bucks  County,  (p.  16.) 

One  thousand  acres  of  land  here  belonged  anciently  to  Robert  Heath,  in 
A.  D.  1700.  There  was  a  patent  in  1710.  This  plantation  included  the 
Great  Spring  tract,  on  the  stream  where  he  agreed  to  erect  a  grist-mill.  A 
mill  was  built«in  1707,  which  was  the  first  in  that  part  of  the  country. 

After  the  York  and  North  Wales  Roads  were  opened  in  1730  there  was  a 
ferry  from  East  Jersey  to  the  Schuylkill  route. 

John  Wells  was  the  first  ferryman  ;  he  probably  settled  here  about  1715 ; 
the  license  from  the  Assembly  was  given  in  1719.  He  had  the  ferry  many 
years.    He  left  his  farm  to  William  Kitchen,  who  was  probably  his  son-in-law. 

Joseph  Wilkinson  bought  a  mill-tract ;  he  is  supposed  to  have  been  the 
son  of  Sir  George  Wilkinson,  the  owner  of  the  site  of  New  Hope.  There  was 
a  powder  horn  in  the  hands  of  Torbert  Coryell  with  the  tract  and  ferry-house 
delineated  on  it. 

The  property  passed  from  Joseph  Wilkinson  to  Joshua  Vansant,  and 
then  to  the  late  Lewis  S.  Coryell. 

The  Wilkinsons  built  a  rolling-mill  in  New  Hope,  where  the  canal 
aqueduct  crosses  Great  Spring  Creek.  The  foundations  were  laid  bare  by  a 
freshet  in  1832. 

The  iron  and  ore  were  brought  from  Durham  in  boats. 

Martin  Coryell,  of  Lambertville,  has  brass  button  moulds  bearing  Joseph 
Wilkinson's  name,  dated  1778. 

The  term  Coryell's  Ferry  was  used  for  both  Lambertville  and  New  Hope 
as  the  ferry  connected  these  places. 

The  bridge  was  built  in  181.6. 

The  water  privileges  from  Great  Spring  made  New  Hope  important  for 
mills  and  forges. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  361 

There  was  a  fulling-mill  on  the  Heath  tract  in  1713. 

The  first  saw-mill  at  New  Hope  dates  back  to  about  1740. 

Before  1745  Benjamin  Comly  built  a  forge  on  the  stream. 

Before  1770  Henry  Dennis  owned  a  forge  above  the  village. 

John  Wilkinson  built  a  forge  at  New  Hope. 

In  1771  Thomas  Smith  kept  a  store  at,  or  near,  New  Hope.  It  is 
doubtful  whether  the  name  of  the  village  came  from  Joseph  Todd.  The 
Hope  Mills  are  said  to  have  been  burned,  and  rebuilt  as  the  New  Hope 
Mills.  In  1800  the  place  was  called  New  Hope,  lately  Coryell's  Ferry.  (See 
General  Davis's  History  of  Bucks  County  for  facts  here  given.) 

Davis's  History  gives  the  following  particulars  of  the  early  history  of 
New  Hope. 

In  1700  Robert  Heath  was  granted  1000  acres  covering  where  New  Hope 
is  now  located.  The  patent  is  dated  1710.  "  The  Great  Spring  tract "  was  a 
part  of  the  purchase. 

In  1753  Joseph  Wilkinson,  "supposed  to  have  been  the  son  of  Sir  George 
Wilkinson,  owned  the  site  of  New  Hope."  Joshua  Vansant  and  Lewis  S. 
Coryell  were  successive  owners. 

Emanuel  Coryell,  was  the  first  settler  at  Lambertville,  opposite  New 
Hope,  in  New  Jersey.  Coryell  had  a  ferry.  Joseph  Lambert's  family  origi- 
nated the  name  of  the  town.  The  lot  for  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  grave- 
yard were  given  by  Mr.  Coryell. 

Benjamin  Canby  had  a  forge  at  New  Hope  before  1745.  "  About  1767 
Doctor  Joseph  Todd,  a  physician  of  some  note,"  was  at  New  Hope,  then  called 
Coryell's  Ferry,  from  George  Coryell  who  had  the  ferry  on  the  Jersey  side. 
He  owned  the  Parry  Mill.  His  son,  Charles  F.,  "  came  home  from  boarding 
school  at  Bustleton  on  Christmas  day  and  saw  the  Continental  troops  march 
from  New  Hope  to  attack  the  Hessians  at  Trenton."     He  became  a  physician. 

Martin  Coryell  said  that  when  the  grain  and  lumber  mills  were  burned, 
which  were  called  Hope  Mills,  new  ones  were  built  and  called  New  Hope. 

The  ancient  Parr}^  family  here  is  of  Welsh  descent.  Bishop  Richard 
Parry  of  St.  Asaph,  in  the  seventeenth  century  and  Sir  Love  P.  J.  Parry,  "  who 
lost  a  leg  at  Waterloo,  were  of  this  family."  Benjamin  Parry  was  the  founder 
of  the  family  at  New  Hope  in  1784.  He  bought  the  Todd  property  and  was 
a  great  business  man.  His  wife  was  Jane,  daughter  of  Oliver  Paxson.  Mr. 
Parry  had  a  scholarly  and  inventive  mind. 

Lewis  S.  Coryell  deserves  notice  as  a  business  leader  at  New  Hope  with 
Thomas  Martin,  his  partner,  in  the  lumber  trade.  He  was  a  progressive  and 
influential  man  and  a  friend  of  President  Monroe.  His  wife  was  Mary 
Vansant  of  New  Hope. 

William  Maris,  of  Philadelphia,  improved  the  village,  erecting  the  man- 
sion of  Richard  Ely,  the  brick  tavern  and  two  factories  for  cotton  and  woolen 
manufactures.  He  also  built  "  a  cotton  mill,  a  mile  up  the  creek,  now  owned 
by  Joshua  Whitely." 


362  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Samuel  Stockton  was  a  notable  resident  here.  In  1820-21  "  Philip  T. 
Tuckett  and  wife  kept  a  boarding  school  in  New  Hope." 

Joseph  D.  Murray  came  to  New  Hope  from  Edenton,  N.  C,  in  1817,  and 
aided  the  prosperity  of  the  town.  He  had  a  store  with  George  Bozman  as 
partner,  where  his  son  William  H.  Murray  afterward  lived.  He  was  also  in 
the  lumber  business  with  Lewis  S.  Coryell.  They  were  engaged  in  building 
the  canal  through  New  Hope. 

An  old  house  "  at  the  head  of  Ferry  Street,  built  by  John  Poor,  the 
grandfather  of  the  late  Daniel  Poor,"  is  interesting.  A  stone  house  "  on 
Bridge  Street,  above  Dr.  Foulke's,  was  built  by  George  Ely,  grandfather  of 
Hiram  Ely."  A  "  pointed  stone  house  on  Ferry  Street,  by  the  canal,  was 
built  by  Garret  Meldrum  before  1808,  who  kept  a  tavern  in  it  soon  after  it  was 
finished." 

Davis  says  from  the  authority  of  one  who  saw  it  as  a  lad,  that  Washington 
tied  his  horse  to  a  tree  by  the  entrance  to  the  Oliver  Paxson  house.  Maple 
Grove,  in  1778. 

The  Muri-ay  house  was  built  in  1808  by  Mr.  Coolbaugh.  Near  the  head 
of  Ferry  Street  is  an  old  frame  hduse  where  R.  Thornton,  afterward  Sheriff, 
kept  store. 

The  New  Hope  Academy  was  preceded  by  another  institution  "  of  that 
name  before  1831,  when  William  H.  Hough  was  the  principal." 

There  were  two  flour  mills,  a  cotton  factory,  a  flax  factory  and  an  agricul- 
tural implement  factory  in  New  Hope  and  when  General  Davis  wrote  his 
history  a  chemical  factory  for  calico  colors  was  in  preparation. 

The  Presbyterian  Chapel  was  built  in  1873.  The  post-office  was  estab- 
lished in  1805,  when  Charles  Ross  was  post-master. 

The  site  of  the  town  is  sloping  to  the  river.  Above  the  town  is  a  fine 
view. 

In  the  Revolution  "  Washington's  army  twice  crossed  the  Delaware  at 
New  Hope,  then  Coryell's  Ferry,  and  here  was  stationed  a  strong  guard  when 
the  American  Army  held  the  west  bank  in  December,  1776."  Thus  General 
Davis  closes  his  account  of  this  interesting  village. 

William  Satterthwaite,  in  an  early  day,  and  Jerome  Buck,  Esq.,  now  of 
New  York,  are  rightly  placed  among  Bucks  County  poets  by  General  Davis. 

George  W.  Hufl'nagle  finds  deserved  notice  in  Battle's  History.  He  was 
born  in  Philadelphia  and  lived  for  a  time  in  Western  Pennsylvania.  He 
moved  to  New  Hope  in  1847,  where  he  resided  until  his  death.  His  wife  was 
the  daughter  of  Colonel  Isaac  Franks,  of  Germantown,  a  Revolutionary  officer 
of  distinction. 

This  gentleman  had  a  brother  named  Charles  who  was  surgeon  of  the 
ship  "  Star,"  from  Philadelphia  to  Calcutta,  in  1826,  and  was  connected  with 
a  business  house  of  importance  in  India,  and  was  made  Consul  by  President 
Polk  in  1847  and  continued  by  successive  administrations  till  1860.  At  the 
London  Exhibition  of  1851  he  received  two  medals  for  the  "  best  collection  of 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  363 

objects  of  art  and  industry  of  British  India  at  the  exhibition."  He  died  in 
London  in  18G0. 

Another  brother  named  William  K.  was  a  civil  engineer  of  note. 

The  first  Burgess  of  this  town  was  John  C.  Parry,  a  nephew  of  Benjamin 
Parry.  He  dwelt  in  the  large  double  brick  house  on  Bridge  Street,  between 
the  bridge  and  the  canal,  on  the  north  side,  which  in  later  years  has  had 
porches  and  a  bay-window  added  to  it.  The  brick  has  been  tinted  with  a 
drab  color.  The  lower  portion  of  the  mansion  was  the  New  Hope  Delaware 
Bridge  Company's  Bank.  They  had  another  bank  across  the  Delaware  River, 
in  Lambertville,  New  Jersey.  William  Maris  was  the  president  at  one  time, 
and  Daniel  Parry,  a  younger  brother  of  Benjamin,  was  treasurer. 

The  old  Delaware  Division  Canal,  operated  by  the  Lehigh  Coal  and 
Navigation  Company,  runs  from  Easton  to  Bristol,  and  passes  through 
New  Hope. 

The  Paxson  estate,  called  Maple  Grove,  covers  several  hundred  acres  in 
this  vicinity. 

Thomas  Paxson  was  the  original  owner.  He  had  eight  sons,  and  left 
each  one  of  them  a  good  estate.  One  was  at  Paxson's  Corner,  another  at 
Paxson's  Island,  and  another  at  Limeport. 

New  Hope  lies  in  Solebury  township. 

In  Bridge  Street,  Dr.  Richard  C.  Foulke  occupies  and  owns  the  old  stone 
rough-cast  house,  with  its  pleasant  yard,  west  of  the  canal.  This  was  Dr. 
Richard  Corson's  residence.  It  is  an  antique.  This  double  house  has  a  porch 
in  front  of  it.  Dr.  Corson  was  a  leading  practitioner,  and  was  of  the  family 
of  Dr.  Hiram  Corson,  of  Norristown.  The  house  has  two  fronts,  one  being  on 
Ferry  Street.  Another  physician  of  this  name  was  Dr.  Thomas  Corson.  A 
delegation  of  Free  Masons  from  Trenton  showed  respect  to  his  memory  by 
making  their  annual  visit  to  his  grave  in  the  cemetery  at  the  Thompson 
Memorial  Church,  in  May,  '88,  as  noted  in  the  Lambertville  Beacon. 

A  noble  old  tree  in  a  field  at  the  junction  of  Ferry  and  Bridge  Streets,  on 
the  north  side  of  Old  York  Road,  stretches  out  its  arms,  as  if  to  implore  a 
longer  lease  of  life  in  the  glorious  sunlight,  and  the  refreshing  air,  for  it  is 
already  partly  dead. 

Washington  passed  this  tree  as  he  went  to  visit  the  Paxson  family  in  the 
mansion-house  in  its  rear. 

MAPLE  GROVE. 

The  avenue  leading  to  Maple  Grove  Mansion  is  a  noble  one.  The  old 
trees  cast  a  friendly  shade,  and  the  width  of  the  avenue  is  comfortable,  as  we 
compare  it  with  cramped  modern  lanes. 

The  house  is  on  high  ground,  and  commands  a  beautiful  prospect  on 
every  side,  embracing  a  long  stretch  up  the  Delaware  River,  and  in  New 
Jersey  on  its  opposite  side. 


364  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

The  old  building  has  been  modernized  somewhat  by  the  addition  of  a 
bay-window  and  piazza,  and  a  balcony  in  the  third  story. 

A  gun  club  has  a  shooting  gallery  on  a  hillside,  near  the  public  school 
of  New  Hope,  on  Benjamin  Parry's  former  estate. 

The  public  school  is  built  of  stone,  and  is  two  stories  in  height ;  it  is 
plastered,  and  dashed  with  pebbles.  A  bell-tower  surmounts  it  to  call  the 
youngsters  to  work.     This  is  also  on  the  Benjamin  Parry  estate. 

A  public  character  deserves  mention  at  New  Hope.  Henry  Lee  was  a 
colored  servant  of  the  Parrys  and  Paxsons  and  Elys,  said  to  have  been  about 
103  years  old.  He  died  not  long  since.  He  was  the  bell-man  to  announce 
sales,  and  was  a  local  wit,  and  had  originality  in  his  cries,  drawing  attention, 
and  so  making  himself  needful  as  a  noted  crier.  In  quiet  New  Hope  he 
could  obtain  more  notice  than  if  he  had  been  forced  to  shout  among  the 
famous  criers  in  the  crowded  streets  of  London. 

A  Presbyterian  Chapel  is  at  the  west  end  of  Ferry  Street.  It  is  a  wooden 
building. 

Next  is  an  old  stone  house  which  belonged  to  Major  Edward  Randolph, 
who  was  a  patriot  of  the  army  of  1776,  and  commanded  the  outlying  guard 
at  the  massacre  of  Paoli.  His  portrait  is  now  in  the  rooms  of  the  Historical 
Society  of  Pennsylvania,  in  General  Patterson's  former  mansion  at  Thirteenth 
and  Locust  Streets,  Philadelphia. 

Major  Randolph  lived  in  Philadelphia  and  had  a  country-seat  at  Eleventh 
and  Master  Streets,  while  his  son  George  lived  on  Chestnut  Street,  below 
Thirteenth  Street,  and  had  a  country-seat  on  Turner's  Lane,  east  of  Broad 
Street. 

Major  Randolph  bought  the  New  Hope  house  for  his  son,  Doctor  Charles 
Randolph,  who  occupied  it  and  practised  medicine. 

It  afterward  became  the  property  of  Major  Randolph's  daughter,  Mrs. 
Rachel  Randolph  Parry,  as  a  part  of  her  father's  estate. 

Ingham's  Spring  forms  a  creek  which  runs  to  the  Delaware  River  through 
New  Hope. 

Two  old  stone  factories  stand  on  the  bank  where  yarn  has  been  spun,  but 
of  later  years  they  have  been  used  in  making  twine,  and  at  present  they  are 
in  the  hands  of  parties  from  New  York  who  make  paper  bags. 

The  company  is  called  "  The  Universal  Bag  Company." 

To  the  west  is  Whitely's  Cotton  Mill.  Not  far  distant,  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  road,  is  Evans's  Flour  Mill. 

The  country  is  rugged  and  wild  between  the  mills.  The  whole  region 
about  New  Hope  is  remarkably  beautiful  and  picturesque. 

Mr.  Ely's  property  runs  down  to  the  pond. 

On  the  south  side  of  the  pond  a  single  rustic  rail  guards  the  road  for 
some  distance.     The  tinkling  of  a  cow-bell  makes  the  scene  more  rural. 

Quarries  are  on  the  south  side  of  the  road. 

This  is  styled  "The  Back  Road"  to  the  toll-gate  through  the  borough. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  365 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  of  St.  Martin  of  Tours   stands  on  high 
ground  in  New  Hope.     It  is  a  noble  stone  building  with  a  spire. 
Father  Quinn  is  the  worthy  priest  of  this  parish. 
A  cemetery,  with  its  overstanding  cross  of  wood,  is  near  the  church. 
A  parsonage  was  under  construction  at  the  time  of  my  visit. 
The  canal  was  opened  in  1831. 

THE  CHURCH  OF  ST.  MARTIN  OF  TOURS. 

This  Roman  Catholic  Parish  is  described  in  Battle's  History,  to  which 
Father  Quinn  referred  me  for  information. 

The  parish  was  organized  A.  D.,  1885,  by  the  work  of  Rev.  Henry 
Stommel,  who  ,bought  six  acres  of  ground  for  the  Bishop.  The  corner-stone 
was  laid  by  Fathers  Stommel  and  Brady  on  the  third  of  May,  and  service  was 
held  in  July,  while  the  dedication  was  celebrated  in  September.  Archbishop 
Ryan  officiated.  Baptism  and  confirmation  were  administered  and  the  Holy 
Eucharist  was  celebrated.     There  was  a  large  congregation. 

The  church  is  a  fine  building  of  stone  with  sacristy.  The  tower  rises  to 
the  height  of  about  one  hundred  feet.     There  is  a  cemetery. 

In  1886  Rev.  Peter  Quinn  succeeded  Father  Stommel  in  the  pastorship 
of  this  church  and  is  still  in  charge. 

THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHAPEL. 

This  is  a  neat  frame  building,  erected  in  A.  D.,  1874-75,  by  the  efforts  of 
R.  Randall  Hoes,  a  graduate  of  Princeton  College  who  was  looking  forward  to 
the  study  of  Theology. 

The  Lambertville  Presbyterian  Church  had  previously  conducted  the 
Sunday  School  and  Rev.  P.  A.  Studdiford  occasionally  preached,  but  the 
Rev.  Dwight  C.  Hanna  was  in  charge  of  the  chapel  when  Battle's  History 
was  written,  and  this  chapel  was  connected  with  the  Thompson  Memorial 
Church,  of  Solebury. 

NEW  HOPE  M.  E.  CHURCH,  BY  REV.  J.  T.  GRAY. 

Early  records  are  lost.  Tradition  says  First  Methodist  Church  in  New 
Hope,  built  in  1846.  The  present  church  edifice  of  the  same  society  in  New 
Hope,  built  from  '72  to  '80.  Corner  stone  laid  October  1,  1872,  Rev.  D.  W. 
Bartine  officiating.  Basement  or  lecture  room  dedicated  on  the  7th  of  June, 
1884.     Auditorium  dedicated  October  17,  1880. 

The  first  Methodist  society  in  New  Hope  consisted  of  the  following  mem- 
bers :  Mrs.  McCoy,  Jane  Vansant,  Ann  Hinkle,  Elizabeth  Hibbs,  Elizabeth 
Sohens,  Abraham  Gerhart,  Letitia  Gerhart,  Elizabeth  Pyinger,  Hannah 
Scarborough,  Susan  Scarborough. 


366  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

Preachers  in  New  Hope  since  the  introduction  of  Methodism  into  the 
place:  Rev.  Messrs.  Booring,  David  Bartine,  James  Hand,  Wesley  Bartin, 
Goentner,  John  Arthur,  Peter  Hallowell,  Dallas  D.  Lore,  John  Ruth,  J.  W. 
McKasky,  D.  L.  Patterson,  Smith,  Alfred  Cookman,  George  Quigley, 
Jonathan  Turner,  John  Edwards,  Michael  A.  Day,  John  Donnely,  John 
A.  Watson,  W.  B.  Wood,  Malan  H.  Sisty,  Reuben  Owen,  Duberg,  Henry 
Hickman,  William  J.  Paxson;  Christopher  J.  Crouch,  Frank  Egan,  E.  Berwis 
Samuel  Irwin,  Titlow,  James  Page,  John  L.  Best,  William  Williams,  Jacob 
Todd,  James  McCarter,  John  D.  Curtis,  Samuel  R.  Gillingham,  Samuel 
Irwin,  John  W.  Reed. 

Since  becoming  a  station  the  following  preachers  have  been  stationed  at 
New   Hope:     William   Mullin,   Clement  Frame,   0.   W.   Landreth,   Joseph 

Welsh,  W.  P.  Howell,  Leon  Dobson,  Stephenson,  N.  D.  McCoraas, 

J.  P.  Miller,  J.  Saunderlin,  Amos  Johnson,  Silas  Best,  Garbutt  Read,  F.  B. 
Lynch,  William  T.  Magee,  and  the  present  incumbent,  J.  T.  Gray. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  presiding  elders  who  have  been  in  charge  of 
the  district  embracing  New  Hope:  James  Smith,  Solomon  Higgins,  John 
Gary,  James  McFarland,  J.  P.  Durbin,  J.  Castle,  Joseph  Mason,  D.  W. 
Bartine,  William  Cooper,  Pennell  Coomb,  William  B.  Wood,  John  Chaplin, 
James  Cunningham,  Jacob  Hinson,  and  S.  W.  Thomas. 

The  present  structure  is  a  fine  stone  edifice,  with  a  seating  capacity  for 
about  500.     The  present  membership  numbers  about  150. 

The  frame  house  on  Front  Street,  next  to  William  H.  Murray's  store,  was 
built  by  John  Beaumont  in  1808,  and  Mr.  Murray  has  lived  there  since  1817. 

The  old  Parry  mansion  was  three  years  in  building. 

The  Paxsons  of  Maple  Grove  are  described  in  Battle's  History,  (p.  1101). 
Thomas  Paxson  was  the  son  of  William  and  Abigail  Pownall  Paxson,  and 
grandson  of  James  and  Jane  Paxson,  who  came  to  America  in  1682  from  the 
County  of  Berks  in  England,  and  about  1763  this  grandson  bought  Maple 
Grove  from  Richard  Pike,  of  Cork,  Ireland.  The  Paxson  family  are  related 
to  the  Canbys,  Watsons,  Johnsons,  Newbolds,  Elys,  Wilsons,  Rhoads  and  the 
Taylor  families.  Oliver  Paxson,  who  married  Ruth  Ann  Ely,  was  the  father 
of  the  present  residents  at  Maple  Grove. 

A  long,  low,  stone  plastered  house  on  Mechanic  Street,  near  the  Trenton 
River  Road  has  been  claimed  to  be  the  oldest  house  in  the  borough,  but 
Maple  Grove  Mansion  is  older.  The  old  house  just  mentioned  is  the  Squire 
Vansant  house. 

The  Squire  was  one  of  the  earlier  settlers  of  the  town. 

The  building  is  now  a  tenement  house.  In  re-roofing  it  several  years 
ago  rifle  balls  were  found  in  the  attic  roof,  said  to  have  been  fired  by  the 
British  from  the  opposite  hills  on  the  Jersey  shore. 

The  chimneys  are  of  blue  stone.  The  house  is  two  stories  high,  and  the 
children  in  the  yard  make  a  contrast  in  height  which  painters  love  in  delin- 
eating dimensions,  as  we  often  see  human  figures  introduced  into  paintings 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  367 

of  buildings,  and  they  serve  as  a  useful  standard  of  comparison.  The  chil- 
dren furnish  a  further  suggestion  as  to  the  old  generations  which  have  dwelt 
here  and  the  new  ones  who  now  take  their  places. 

The  old  gray  stone  house  adjoining  the  canal,  on  Ferry  Street,  is  one  of 
the  substantially  built  edifices  of  the  olden  time.  It  is  owned  by  J.  Patterson 
Smith. 

The  Logan  House  Hotel  is  constructed  of  stone  covered  with  plaster.  It 
is  kept  by  Michael  Van  Hart,  and  is  the  oldest  tavern  now  in  the  town  that 
is  still  used  as  a  hotel. 

The  hotels  are  headquarters  for  meetings  of  Horse  Companies  and  Turn- 
pike Companies. 

The  Delaware  House  at  the  western  end  of  New  Hope  and  Delaware 
Bridge  is  a  brick  building,  erected  more  than  half  a  century  ago.  A.  J. 
Solomon  is  the  inn  keeper  there. 

Eastburn  &  Betts's  Flour  and  Sawmills  and  Turning  Factories  are  on  the 
Ingham  Spring  Creek. 

This  wonderfully  copious  spring  finds  its  outlet  in  the  river  at  the 
Eastburn  &  Betts  Factory,  opposite  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company's 
shops  of  the  Belvidere  Division. 

The  water  view,  with  the  opposite  hills  as  a  background,  is  remarkably 
beautiful. 

An  iron  County  bridge  crosses  the  creek  here.  This  is  the  only  bridge 
that  spans  Ingham  Creek. 

An  antique  stone  barn  is  a  picturesque  object  just  above  the  stream. 
It  is  an  adjunct  of  the  old  Parry  Mansion,  which  is  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
road. 

The  front  of  the  mansion  is  a  well  preserved  picture  of  "  ye  olden  time," 
being  a  representation  of  a  good  old  fashioned  architecture. 

The  lime  of  honest  strength  and  the  old  workmen  did  their  duty  well. 

The  house  was  built  in  A.  D.,  1784,  and  has  celebrated  its  centennial.  It 
has  always  been  in  the  Parry  family. 

The  stone  building  is  two  stories  in  height.  The  front  door  is  of  a  hospi- 
table width  to  "  welcome  the  coming  guest."  An  old  triangular  wooden  hood 
surmounts  the  door  on  its  outer  side.  A  window  with  small  antique  looking 
panes  overtops  the  door  to  give  light  to  the  ancient  hall,  and  small  panes  of 
glass  are  used  throughout  the  house.  The  door  and  shutters  are  colored  a 
dark  green,  giving  a  staid  appearance  befitting  the  old  mansion. 

A  brass  knocker  still  does  its  duty  as  an  ornament  and  a  remembrance 
of  "  Auld  Lang  Syne,"  but  a  modern  bell  assists  its  ancient  friend  in  its  work. 

The  ornamental  stone  window  caps,  with  their  massive  key-stones,  are 
worthy  of  notice. 

A  lower  section  of  the  building  joins  the  main  house  as  a  wing. 

One  noble  stone  chimney  remains  at  the  lower  gable.  The  upper  one 
became  insecure  years  ago  and  was  replaced  with  brick. 


368  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

A  circular  piece  of  marble  under  the  chimney  has  the  inscription, 
"  Benj.  Parry,  A.  D.,  1784." 

A  circle  of  brown  stone  surrounds  this  inscribed  marble  and  has  the  same 
massive  keys  which  mark  the  front  and  side  windows. 

A  wide  modern  piazza  is  in  the  rear  of  the  house,  extending  its  whole 
breadth. 

Massive  chimneys  are  characteristic  of  the  mansion.  The  amount  of 
stone  used  and  the  room  occupied  by  them  is  simply  wonderful. 

The  hinges  of  the  front  door  are  strap-hinges  covering  its  whole  width. 
They  are  heavy  and  rows  of  nails  in  the  door  indicate  that  at  one  time  its 
inner  side  was  coated  with  iron. 

A  large  lock  fitly  guards  the  strong  door. 

The  rear  door  of  the  hall  is  a  counterpart  of  the  front  one,  and  the  low, 
broad  stairs  with  their  fine  old  wood  work  and  landings  of  English  style, 
and  the  pleasant  upper  chambers  combine  to  give  dignity  to  a  house  which 
wears  its  years  well,  and  seems  proud  of  its  ancient  history. 

The  mansion  is  now  occupied  by  Richard  Randolph  Parry  and  his 
family,  and  his  brother  Dr.  George  Randolph  Parry. 

The  grandfather's  clock  on  the  stairs  has  ticked  through  the  lives  of  gen- 
erations. The  furniture  is  ancient,  suiting  its  surroundings.  The  stone  par- 
tition of  the  added  part  covers  perhaps  ten  feet  in  thickness,  having  been  cut 
through  for  the  purpose  of  connecting  one  portion  of  the  dwelling  with 
the  other. 

The  wood  paneling  of  the  door,  and  the  shutters,  and  the  inner  wood 
work  are  artistic,  and  show  that  the  carpenters  did  not  hasten  their  work. 

The  number  of  useful  closets  indicates  an  early  planner  who  knew  the 
needs  of  a  household. 

A  beautiful  Osage  orange  hedge,  trimmed  with  care,  bounds  the  lower 
part  of  the  place,  along  Ingham  Creek. 

A  high  attic  forms  a  third  story,  and  this  is  surmounted  by  another  attic. 

Mr.  Jacob  F.  Hill  was  the  Chief  Burgess  of  New  Hope  when  these  notes 
were  taken. 

New  Hope  was  formerly  ahead  of  Lambertville,  which  lies  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Delaware  River,  in  New  Jersey.  It  was  thought  that  the  site  of 
Lambertville,  under  the  hill,  was  not  a  good  position  for  a  town,  but  it  has 
outstripped  its  neighbor.  So  Perth  Amboy,  N.  J.  has  a  charter  a  little  older 
than  New  York,  but  New  York  outran  it.  The  new  railway  may  give 
renewed  life  to  the  place. 

The  Beaumont  (Murray)  house,  opposite  the  Methodist  Church,  is  an 
interesting  building.  Joseph  D.  Murray  built  it.  He  was  from  North 
Carolina. 

The  Eagle  Fire  Engine  Company,  on  the  north  side  of  Bridge  Street, 
occupy  a  building  owned  by  the  New  Hope  Delaware  Bridge  Company.     It 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  369 

is  a  flourishing  association  wliich  has  maintained  its  organization  for  many 
years,  and  has  a  steam  lire  engine. 

Diagonally  across  the  street,  on  a  vacant  lot  of  the  Bridge  Company,  was 
a  Friends'  Meeting  House,  which  was  taken  down  some  years  since. 

The  ofiicers  of  the  New  Hope  and  Delaware  Bridge  Company  are  Charles 
S.  Atkinson,  President ;  John  H.  Williams,  Secretary  and  Treasurer ;  Directors : 
Charles  Crook,  James  S.  Studdiford,  T.  Eastburn,  William  H.  Closson, 
Watson  P.  Magill,  and  Richard  R.  Parry.  * 

In  the  issue  of  May  18th,  1888,  the  Lambertville  Beacon  said,  "  The  New 
Hope  Delaware  Bridge  Company  is  building  a  new  toll-house  on  the  Jersey 
end  of  the  venerable  old  structure." 

In  walking  over  this  bridge  the  views  from  the  windows  in  the  sides  of 
the  structure  give  beautiful  pictures  of  land  and  water. 

An  interesting  bit  of  local  history  concerning  this  section  lies  in  the  fact 
that  an  old  family  on  the  Pennsylvania  side  of  the  Delaware  River  had  a 
quit-rent,  like  those  in  Penn's  day,  on  the  Jersey  side,  above  Lambertville,  by 
which  thirty-two  shad  per  year  were  to  be  delivered ;  and  this  was  faithfully 
kept  up  through  the  generations  for  one  hundred  years,  when  it  expired  by 
limitation, 

EARLY  NOTES  PERTAINING  TO  NEAV  HOPE,  PENNA.,  "  CORYELL'S 
FERRY  "  OF  THE  REVOLUTION. 

By  Richard  Randolph  Parry. 

New  Hope,  the  terminus  of  the  Old  York  Road,  on  the  Delaware  River, 
in  Bucks  County,  is  an  ancient  settlement  known  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution 
as  "  Coryell's  Ferry,"  a  place  of  historic  interest,  and  at  that  day  of  great 
strategic  importance  on  account  of  its  situation  upon  the  main  artery  of  travel 
between  the-  cities  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  and  at  the  ferry  between 
the  Pennsylvania  and  the  New  Jersey  shores.  At  divers  times,  the  Conti- 
nental Army  passed  through  what  is  now  New  Hope  Borough,  and  detach- 
ments of  troops  were  quartered  in  the  village  and  surrounding  neighborhood 
upon  several  occasions.  Many  of  the  letters  of  General  Washington  and  other 
of  his  prominent  officers,  are  dated  at  "  Coryell's  Ferry,"  (a  name  then  applied 
to  both  sides  of  the  Delaware  River),  and  were  sometimes  written  from  camp 
in  New  Jersey,  and  at  others  from  Pennsylvania.  In  1776,  upon  the  fall  of 
"  Fort  Lee,"  Washington  was  obliged  to  leave  New  York  to  the  enemy  and 
retreating  across  New  Jersey,  established  his  headquarters  at  the  "  Falls  of  the 
Delaware,"  in  Bucks  County^  stationing  his  troops  at  various  points  up  the 
river  in  Pennsylvania  as  far  as  "  Coryell's;  Ferry."  That  portion  of  the  army  at 
"  Coryell's  Ferry,"  (now  New  Hope),  was  under  the  command  of  General 
William  Alexander,  more  commonly  known  as  Lord  Stirling,  who  threw  up  a 
24 


370  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

strong  redoubt  on  top  of  the  hill  across  the  pond,  in  a  south  westerly  direction 
from  the  old  Parry  Mansion,  and  once  a  part  of  that  estate.  The  indentations 
can  still  be  seen  faintly  outlined,  but  show  more  plainly  from  the  New  Jersey  side 
of  the  river  and  extend  back  to  the  yellow  school  house  since  erected,  well  up 
the  hill.  Lord  Stirling  also  had  another  redoubt  thrown  up  on  the  Old  York 
Road,  at  the  corner  of  Bridge  and  Ferry  Streets,  opposite  where  the  Presby- 
terian Chapel  now  stands,  this  with  stockade  intrenchments  and  batteries 
placed  just  above  the  ferry  landing  on  the  river  bank  north  of  the  Old  York 
Road,  constituted  the  defences  of  New  Hope  in  1776,  from  what  General 
Washington  evidently  anticipated  an  advance  movement  of  a  portion  of  the 
British  Army  at  that  time.  The  old  hip  roof  house  now  being  taken  down  to 
make  way  for  the  new  residence  of  Mr.  Phineas  Slack,  the  present  owner,  is 
said  to  have  been  Lord  Stirling's  headquarters  in  New  Hope,  and  the  writer 
is  informed  by  a  gentleman  whose  recollection  extends  far  back  into  the  past, 
that  when  he  was  a  boy  it  was  always  known  as  "The  Old  Fort,"  and  stood 
directly  opposite  the  long  avenue  leading  into  the  Paxson  estate.  During  the 
years  of  1776,  1777  and  1778,  the  buff  and  blue  uniforms  of  the  Continental 
soldiers  must  have  been  familiar  objects  to  the  people  of  this  section  of  Bucks 
County.  General  Benedict  Arnold,  the  traitor,  was  at  Coryell's  Ferry  on  June 
16,  1777,  and  wrote  to  General  Washington  from  there,  and  on  July  29,  1777, 
we  find  the  honored  and  lamented  Alexander  Hamilton,  then  a  captain  of 
Artillery,  who  was  killed  by  Aaron  Burr  in  their  memorable  duel,  writing  to 
the  Hon.  Robert  Morris  from  the  same  place.  Colonel  James  Monroe, 
afterwards  President  of  the  United  States,  and  other  officers  were  quartered  in 
the  Neeley  farm  house  below  New  Hope  in  December,  1776,  and  on  the  same 
farm  is  the  grave  of  Captain  James  Moore  of  the  New  York  artillery,  which, 
remaining  almost  neglected  for  ninety  years,  was  then  newly  repaired  and 
fenced  in  by  a  costly  iron  railing  through  the  efforts  of  a  woman's  loyal  and 
loving  heart,  albeit  a  stranger ;  this  lady  was  the  sister  of  Major  Robert  N. 
Boyd  of  Solebury  Township. 

Although  New  Hope  does  not  boast  of  many  fine  or  beautiful  buildings, 
yet  there  are  several  at  least  should  be  noted,  and  the  first  likely  to  attract  the 
attention  of  a  visitor  entering  the  borough  from  the  west  by  the  Old  York 
Road,  would  be  the  stone  residence  of  Mr.  William  Eastburn  on  the  left  hand 
side  of  the  road  east  of  and  beyond  the  toll-gate,  the  house  being  a  modern 
one  and  built  upon  the  site  of  an  older  one  taken  down  a  few  years  since  to 
make  room  for  the  present  structure.  The  wife  of  Mr.  Eastburn  was  Miss 
Blackfan  of  the  Blackfan  family,  cousins  of  William  Penn,  who  was  present 
at  the  marriage  of  her  ancestor,  Edward  Blackfan,  to  Rebecca  Crispin,  in  1688, 
and  signed  the  marriage  certificate  yet  carefully  preserved  in  the  family  and 
in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Eastburn's  father,  Mr.  William  Blackfan,  of  Solebury 
township.  The  large  yellow  mansion  on  the  top  of  the  hill,  just  beyond  Mr. 
Eastburn's  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  road,  is  named  "  Cintra,"  and  is  owned 
and  occupied  by  Richard  E.  Ely,  Esq.,  a  sketch  of  which  and  picture  will  be 


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.H 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  373 

found  in  another  part  of  this  volume.  The  "  Old  Hip  Roof  House,"  before 
mentioned,  near  the  corner  of  Bridge  and  Ferry  Streets  and  opposite  "  Maple 
Grove,"  the  ancient  and  present  home  of  the  Paxson  family,  was  one  of  the 
very  oldest  buildings  in  New  Hope  and  was  for  several  generations  owned  by 
the  Poor  family,  having  been  built  for  John  Poor,  grandfather  of  the  late 
Daniel  Poor,  who  was  the  last  owner  of  the  name.  "  Maple  Grove"  and  an 
account  of  the  Paxson's  appearing  in  another  place,  they  need  not  be  further 
noted  here,  excepting  to  mention  that  on  this  property  stands  the  "  Old 
Washington  Tree,"  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  old,  which  was  a  favorite 
place  of  meeting  of  Generals  Washington,  Green  and  Lord  Stirling,  for 
consultation  in  1776,  and  it  is  said  that  under  this  very  tree  they  met  and 
first  planned  the  battle  of  Trenton.  Within  the  borough  limits  the  Old  York 
Road  is  now  known  as  Ferry  Street,  and  on  it,  just  below  the  junction  with  Bridge 
Street,  is  the  large  double  stone  mansion  of  the  Foulke  family,  built  in  1828 
for  Dr.  Richard  Corson,  grandfather  of  Dr.  Richard  Corson  Foulke,  who,  with 
his  mother,  (the  widow  of  Dr.  Charles  Foulke,)  and  family  now  own  and 
occupy  it.  The  pointed  double  stone  house  on  Ferry  Street  by  the  canal,  was 
built  before  1808  by  Garret  Meldrum,  and  was  used  by  him  for  a  tavern  soon 
after  it  was  finished.  It  is  now  owned  and  occupied  by  Mr.  J.  Patterson  Smith 
whose  father  purchased  it  of  the  Neeley  Family. 

The  Murray  dwelling,  on  Main  Street  just  north  of  Ferry  Street,  was 
built  in  1808  by  Mr.  Coolbaugh,  and  became  the  home  later  on  of  Mr.  Joseph 
D.  Murray,  the  father  of  Mr,  William  Murray  who  now  lives  there.  The 
oldest  house  in  New  Hope,  is  on  Mechanic  Street,  a  short  distance  west  of 
Main*  Street,  built  by  the  Wilkinsons  among  the  early  settlers  about  the  ferrj'-, 
and  was  afterwards  owned  by  Squire  Joshua  Vansant,  the  father  of  Mrs. 
Lewis  S.  Coryell ;  some  years  ago  when  renewing  the  roof,  grape  shot  were 
found  in  the  old  one,  supposed  to  have  been  fired  during  the  Revolution 
from  a  British  battery  planted  on  the  opposite  hills ;  Lewis  S.  Coryell  was  an 
enterprising  citizen  and  active  in  politics.  In  Davis'  History  of  Bucks 
County  he  is  spoken  of  as  exercising  large  political  influence,  though  never 
holding  office,  and  as  being  a  favorite  with  President  Monroe,  and  a  frequent 
visitor  at  the  White  House,  while  he  occupied  it.  The  residence  of  Mr. 
Coryell  with  its  handsome  grounds  is  still  standing,  on  the  west  side  of  the 
Old  Trenton  or  River  road,  south  of  the  Iron  Bridge.  New  Hope  continued 
to  be  called  Coryell's  Ferry  until  about  1798,  when  it  had  been  changed,  as 
evidenced  by  an  old  map  dated  1798,  made  for  the  late  Benjamin  Parry,  Esq., 
and  still  hanging  in  the  lower  hall  of  the  old  Parry  mansion  where  he  lived 
and  died.  The  site  of  New  Hope  in  1700  was  covered  by  a  grant  to  Robert 
Heath,  to  whom  patent  was  issued  February  11,  1710;  soon  after,  the  Old 
York  Road  was  opened,  and  in  1730  the  North  Wales  Road,  thus  making  New 
Hope  with  its  ferry  an  important  point.  The  first  ferryman  appears  to  have 
been  John  Wells  about  the  year  1715 ;  and  down  to  1770,  the  place  was  called 
"  Wells  Ferry  "  after  him ;  subsequently  it  was  styled  Coryell's  Ferry,  for  Capt. 


374  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

George  Coryell,  who  held  the  ferry  privileges,  and  lived  on  the  Jersey  side  of 
the  river.  The  Old  York  Road  terminating  at  the  extreme  eastern  end  of 
Ferry  Street  was  the  starting  point  of  the  ferry  for  New  Jersey  in  early  times ; 
and  here  close  by  the  river's  brink,  still  stands  as  a  reminder  of  the  past — but 
in  a  fast  decaying  state — the  ivy  crowned  trunk  of  an  ancient  black  walnut 
tree;  which  standing  guard  as  it  were,  and  sentry,  has  braved  the  storms 
of  certainly  a  century  and  a  half  at  least,  and  cannot  exist  many  years  longer ; 
when  it  passes  away,  will  have  been  removed  one  of  the  very  earliest  land  marks 
of  the  borough.  On  Christmas  Day  1776,  Dr.  Charles  Todd  of  New  Hope  (then 
a  young  lad) — watching  at  the  intersection  of  the  Old  York  Road,  and  the 
Trenton  or  River  Road,  where  the  old  Parry  mansion  stands — witnessed  the 
Continental  troops  march  around  the  corner  into  the  Trenton  Road,  and 
down  it  with  hurrying  steps  to  a  point  a  few  miles  below  on  the  Delaware 
River,  now  known  as  Washington's  Crossing,  where  passing  over  that  night  in 
boats,  there  collected  for  the  purpose,  they  advanced  early  on  the  morning  of 
the  26th,  upon  the  city  of  Trenton  ;  and  surprising  the  Hessians,  fought  and 
won' that  famous  engagement,  which  has  passed  into  history  as  the  "  Battle  of 
Trenton."  The  old  Parry  mansion  referred  to  above,  was  no  doubt  in  its  day, 
one  of  the  best  built,  and  finest  houses  in  that  part  of  Bucks  County :  In 
Battle's  History  of  Bucks  County  Pa.,  (pp.  531-32)  a  description  of  it  is  given, 
taken  from  a  sketch  in  the  Bucks  County  Intelligencer  some  years  before,  the 
article  closing  with  the  hope  that  no  effort  will  be  made  to  modernize  the  old 
home,  but  "  that  it  will  long  remain  what  it  now  is,  a  true  type  of  18th 
century  architecture."  As  viewed  from  the  outside,  this  mansion  presents  a 
quiet  and  most  dignified  appearance,  in  keeping  with  the  family  for  whom  it 
was  built;  the  quaint  and  handsome  carved  stone  ornamentations  over  the 
windows,  small  window  panes,  pointed  corners,  and  hoods,  betoken  its  age, 
and  are  charmingly  attractive.  Over  the  front  door  remains  the  ancient 
bonnet  or  hood  of  our  forefathers'  day,  beneath  which  is  the  massive  old 
fashioned  oaken  door  with  its  transverse  panels,  brass  knocker,  and  cumbrous 
lock,  and  huge  iron  hinges  which  stretch  across  the  whole  width.  This  door 
opens  into  a  wide  wainscoted  and  paneled  hall,  running  through  the  middle 
of  the  house,  and  dividing  the  long  parlor  upon  one  side,  from  the  dining- 
room,  and  the  parlor  or  sitting-room  on  the  other;  in  these  rooms,  are  yet 
preserved  (and  in  daily  use),  the  corner  cupboards  of  a  hundred  years  ago. 
The  upper  floors  are  approached  by  low  broad  steps,  and  half  way  up  the 
stairs  on  the  broad  landing,  stands  in  one  corner — relic  of  a  past  age — the 
old  eight  day  clock,  which  has  ticked  in  and  out  the  lives  of  so  many  of  the 
family;  and  still  showing  upon  its  familiar  face,  the  moon  in  all  its  phases. 
Five  bed  chambers,  most  of  them  communicating,  upon  the  second  floor,  open 
out  upon  an  upper  hall,  the  full  width  of  that  beneath ;  the  inside  shutters 
over  the  house,  both  in  the  main  building,  and  wing,  are  secured  for  the 
most  part  by  long  wooden  bars,  stretching  across  and  fitting  into  the  deep 
window  frames.     In  most  of  these  rooms  may  be  seen  great  open  mouthed 


A  BIT  01'   Till':  I'liOST  HALL,  STAIKWAY  AND  LANDING,  WITH  ANCIENT  HIGH 
CLOCK  AT  "THE  OLD  PARRY  MANSION,"  NEW  HOPE,  PA. 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  377 

chimneys  and  fire  places,  the  brick  floors  of  which  are  painted  in  bright  tile 
colors.  Immense  closets  with  brass  door  knobs,  in  one  of  these  chambers  fill 
up  entirely  one  end  of  the  room,  taking  several  feet  off*  its  length ;  but  com- 
pensating by  the  additional  convenience  afforded  the  family.  The  rooms  and 
halls  of  this  old  mansion,  contain  much  valued,  handsome  and  ancient 
furniture,  belonging  to  the  family  for  several  generations,  much  of  it  being 
elaborately  carved  in  solid  walnut  and  mahogany  woods.  Like  the  Potts  house 
at  Valley  Forge,  there  is  in  one  of  the  rooms  on  the  first  story  a  trap  door  in  the 
floor  leading  into  the  cellar,  which,  in  the  writer's  memory,  was  used  as  a  wine 
cellar ;  but  may  possibly  have  been  intended  in  earlier  times,  as  a  means  of 
escape  from  sudden  danger. 

In  the  great  attic  overhead  the  children,  grandchildren,  and  great  grand- 
children of  the  original  owner  have  often  played  and  wondered  at  the  contents 
of  numerous  chests,  high  cases  of  drawers  and  boxes,  since  learned  to  have  con- 
tained much  linen,  stuffs,  and  other  articles  of  family  value.  And  far  up 
amid  the  rafters,  a  secret  room,  only  reached  by  a  long  ladder,  (always  removed 
after  each  visit),  aff'orded  a  safe  hiding  place  for  papers  and  such  valued 
matter  as  seemed  to  require  extra  security  and  care  in  the  time  of  the  original 
owner,  which  was  to  his  grandchildren  of  course  a  place  of  especial  wonder, 
tinctured  perhaps  somewhat  with  a  species  of  fear.  In  the  wing  of  the  man- 
sion still  swings  in  a  capacious  fire  place,  an  ancient  iron  crane  with  its  out- 
stretched arm,  at  rest,  after  a  long  term  of  service,  much  prized  by  the  family 
and  shown  visitors  as  a  curious  relic.  A  huge  bake  oven  of  an  early  period, 
and  no  longer  used,  in  the  kitchen  adjoining  was  torn  out  a  few  years  ago  for 
the  lost  space  which  was  needed. 

The  old  Parry  mansion  was  erected  in  the  year  1784  for  Benjamin  Parry, 
one  of  the  early  settlers  of  New  Hope,  (then  Coryell's  Ferry),  who,  having 
obtained  from  his  father  considerable  means,  became  largely  engaged  in  com- 
mercial enterprises  of  magnitude  for  that  early  day,  both  here  and  elsewhere, 
and  for  many  years  was  a  most  prominent  and  influential  man  in  this  section. 
Much  mention  is  made  of  Mr,  Parry  in  both  Davis's  and  Battle's  Histories  of 
Bucks  County,  Pennsylvania.  Davis's  History  says  of  him  at  page  683,  that 
he  ''  was  a  man  of  considerable  scientific  attainment  and  varied  and  extensive 
reading,  was  public  spirited  and  took  deep  interest  in  all  that  would  improve 
his  neighborhood  or  the  County."  An  elaborately  cut  stone  circle  in  the  north 
gable  end  of  the  house,  under  the  roof,  bears  a  tablet  inscribed  :  "  Benjamin 
Parry,  A.  D.,  1784."  In  1787  he  married  Jane  Paxson  of  Maple  Grove,  and 
brought  her  as  a  bride  to  his  home  where  they  both  passed  the  remainder  of 
their  lives ;  and  here  in  1794  was  born  their  eldest  child  and  only  son,  the  late 
Oliver  Parry,  Esq.,  w^hose  son.  Major  Edward  Randolph  Parry  of  the  United 
States  Army,  died  at  the  old  mansion  in  1874  of  disease  brought  on  b}"  hard- 
ships and  exposure  endured  during  the  late  terrible  war.  Major  Parry 
received  a  brevet  from  Congress  "  for  gallant  services  during  the  war,"  and 
died  in  his  prime,  aged  only  42  years.     Benjamin  Parry,  born  March  1,  1757, 


378  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

the  father  of  Oliver  Parry,  was  son  of  John  Parry  styled  of  Moorland  Manor, 
born  July  25,  1721,  and  who  married,  1751,  Margaret  Tyson,  daughter  of 
Derick  Tyson  and  grand-daughter  of  Renier  Tyson,  twice  Burgess  of  German- 
town  Borough,  where  he  settled  in  very  early  times.  This  John  Parry  was 
a  son  of  Thomas  and  Jane  Parry,  Thomas  Parry  having  been  born  in 
Caernarvonshire,  North  Wales,  A.  D.,  1680,  and  coming  to  America  when 
quite  a  young  man,  died  in  Montgomery  County,  Pennsylvania,  in  1751 ;  he 
was  a  large  landholder,  and  is  recorded  as  owning  over  one  thousand  acres 
of  Land  in  Montgomery  County ;  a.  part  of  this  was  the  Moorland  Manor  tract 
owned  later  on  by  his  son  John.  The  old  Parry  mansion,  built  1784,  has 
never  been  out  of  the  family  and  is  now  owned  and  occupied  by  Benjamin 
Parry's  grandsons,  Richard  Randolph  Parry  and  his  brother  Dr.  George 
Randolph  Parry.  Of  the  male  descendants  of  Benjamin  Parry  of  the  name  in 
the  next  generation,  Oliver  Randolph  Parry,  born  March  29,  1873,  son  of 
above  Richard,  is  the  only  one  living  at  the  present  (1892)  time. 

The  large  red  house  with  its  several  additions  on  the  back  road,  near 
Whiteley's  Cotton  Mill,  and  the  Turnpike  gate,  as  you  enter  New  Hope, 
although  off  the  York  Road,  should  be  mentioned  in  this  chapter;  it  was  for 
many  years  the  residence  of,  and  occupied  by  the  late  Hon.  Charles  Hutfnagle, 
M.  D.,  United  States  Minister  to  Calcutta,  and  contained  a  very  valuable  col- 
lection of  curiosities,  gathered  by  him,  in  the  old  world,  and  especially  in 
India;  many  of  these  have  been  sold  since  his  death,  and  have  found  their 
way  into  various  private  and  public  museums ;  formerly  the  house  was  often 
thrown  open  to  visitors,  and  many  interested  persons  availed  themselves  of 
the  opportunity  of  seeing  its  treasures.  Doctor  Huffnagle  died  in  London, 
England  years  since,  as  he  was  returning  from  America  to  Calcutta. 

Many  persons  are  unaware  of  the  fact  that  numbers  of  the  boats  used  by 
General  Washington  to  cross  the  Delaware  River  on  Christmas  night,  1776, 
were  collected  at  New  Hope  and  kept  concealed  behind  Malta  Island,  but 
such  was  the  case;  the  procuring  of  them  having  been  mainly  entrusted 
to  General  Daniel  Bray,  then  a  young  captain,  who  was  familiar  with 
every  boat  along  the  river  for  many  miles.  Lord  Cornwallis  being  in- 
formed of  what  had  been  done,  sent  troops  to  what  is  now  Lambertville, 
New  Jersey,  on  the  river  opposite  New  Hope,  to  seize  them,  but  the  soldiers 
were  apparently  afraid  to  cross  over  in  the  face  of  the  frowning  batteries 
which  were  planted  on  the  river's  bank  at  New  Hope.  Malta  Island  at  the 
time  of  the  Revolution  was  densely  wooded  and  therefore  the  boats  floated 
down  by  night  could  not  be  seen  by  the  British  from  the  Jersey  heights. 
The  channel  behind  the  Island  having  shice  filled  uf>  it  is  now  practically 
main  land.  The  present  Union  Mills  are  just  north  of  the  Island.  Other 
boats  were  collected  at  Knowle's  Cove  above  Washington's  Crossing,  but  at 
what  is  now  Taylorsville,  Pennsylvania,  (the  place  of  crossing),  there  is  said 
to  have  been  but  a  single  boat.  The  boats  from  New  Hope,  (Coryell's  Ferry), 
were  secretly  dropped  down  the  river  on  Christmas  night  and  were  utilized  by 


1,-       -z 

% 

m 

s>r**^^^  ■ 

BENJAMIN  PAREY, 
Born  March  1st,  1757.     (See  page  377.) 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  381 

Washington  in  that  memorable  crossing,  now  known  the  world  over  in 
History,  and  made  additionally  famous,  by  the  artist's  brush.  General 
Washington's  headquarters  at  this  period  were  in  the  old  Keith  mansion  a 
few  miles  below  New  Hope,  on  the  Brownsburg  Road  to  the  "  The  Eagle,"  a 
house  built  for  William  Keith  in  1763,  and  still  oM^ied  by  the  family.  Charles 
Penrose  Keith,  Esq.,  author  of  "Keith's  Provincial  Councillors,"  and  his 
brother  Sidney  Keith,  both  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  are  members  of  this 
family. 

The  New  Hope  Delaware  Bridge  Company  has  for  more  than  eighty  (80) 
years  been  a  prominent  feature  in  the  history  of  this  section  of  country,  for  a  long 
time  furnishing  much  of  the  currency  in  use,  being  a  bank  of  issue  as  well  as 
deposit,  until  wrecked  by  the  bad  management  of  William  Maris,  an  early 
president  of  the  Company.  The  first  meeting  held  in  connection  with  the 
bridge  organization  was  at  the  tavern  of  Garrett  Meldrum  in  New  Hope,  on 
September  25,  1811,  at  which  a  committee  consisting  of  Benjamin  Parry, 
Hon.  Samuel  D.  Ingham  and  others  were  appointed  to  act,  and  Mr.  Parry  was 
made  chairman  of  the  committee.  That  they  lost  no  time  in  so  doing  is 
shown  by  the  fact  of  a  charter  being  granted  the  Company  by  the  State  of 
New  Jersey,  January  23,  1812,  which  was  formally  concurred  in  by  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania  the  same  year,  it  being  necessary  to  have  the  authority  of 
both  States.  The  bank  bills  are  now  very  scarce ;  there  is  one,  however, 
framed  as  a  curiosity  in  the  office  of  the  Bridge  Company  at  Lambertville, 
New  Jersey.  On  March  15th,  1819,  a  dividend  of  three  per  cent,  was  declared 
on  $161,226.47,  though  it  is  not  stated  whether  it  was  for  the  fiscal  year  or  six 
months.  The  cost  of  the  bridge  was  $67,936.37  as  stated  in  "Davis's  History 
of  Bucks  County."  In  1825  the  Hon.  Samuel  D.  Ingham,  Secretary  of  the 
United  States  Treasury  under  President  Jackson,  was  president  of  the  Bridge 
Company.  Benjamin  Parry  is  conceded  to  have  been  the  original  promoter 
of  the  bridge  enterprise,  was  the  first  person  to  sign  the  subscription  list  and 
was  one  of  the  first  board  of  managers  in  1812.  His  grandson,  Richard 
Randolph  Parry,  is  now  (1892)  president  of  Company,  with  the  following 
Board  of  Directors;  Charles  Crook,  T.  T.  Eastburn,  W.  H.  Closson,  James  S. 
Studdiford,  W.  P.  Magill,  John  S.  Williams.  The  bridge  has  always  shown 
good  income  earning  capacity  and  the  Company  enjoys  the  highest  credit,  its 
securities  commanding  a  handsome  premium. 

The  Company's  Bank  was,  in  early  days,  in  the  large  double  brick 
building  on  Bridge  Street,  subsequently  purchased  by  the  late  John  C.  Parry, 
the  first  Chief  Burgess  of  New  Hope,  and  now  owned  and  occupied  by 
J.  Simpson  Betts.  Later  on  the  business  was  conducted  in  Lambertville,  N.  J., 
with  at  one  time,  a  branch  in  Jersey  City,  N.  J.  In  1841  a  portion  of  the 
bridge  on  the  Jersey  side  was  swept  away  by  flood,  when  Mr.  William  H. 
Murray  of  New  Hope,  made  a  narrow  escape,  having  just  crossed  over  a  few 
moments  before  the  span  went  down  into  the  wild  waters  beneath. 


382  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

A  writer  in  the  Lambertville  (N .  J.)  Beacon  in  1885,  thus  remarks:  "Our 
few  old  people  who  remember  the  building  of  the  bridge  remember  and  talk 
of  the  event  with  a  zeal  that  plainly  shows  the  bridge  was  a  glory  of  past 
years  in  this  section,  and  that  the  Brooklyn  Bridge  of  to-day,  is  in  our  admir- 
ation, what  the  New  Hope  Delaware  Bridge  was  to  our  fathers  and  grand- 
fathers at  the  time  of  its  building." 

There  are  two  Hotels  in  New  Hope,  both  of  which  have  been  in  existence  for 
a  long  time,  the  oldest  being  the  "  Logan  House,"  corner  of  Main  and  Ferry 
Sts.,  Michael  Van  Hart,  Proprietor,  who  purchased  it  a  number  of  years  ago. 
Garret  Meldrum  is  also  said  to  have  once  kept  it ;  and  it  is  generally  believed, 
that  one  end  of  the  old  building  was  formerly  used  as  the  Ferry  House.  A 
tall  tin  figure  of  the  Indian  Chief  Logan,  on  top  of  a  very  high  pole,  until 
recent  years,  served  the  double  purpose  of  a  weather  vane,  and  sign  for  the 
"  Logan  House." 

The  "  Delaware  House  "  on  the  corner  of  Main  and  Bridge  Streets,  A.  J. 
Solomon,  Proprietor,  was  built  by  William  Maris,  early  in  the  present  century, 
and  like  its  competitor  the  "  Logan  House,"  is  both  roomy  and  comfortable, 
it  is  situated  almost  at  the  entrance  of  the  New  Hope  Delaware  Bridge.  The 
old  sign  which  swung  in  front  of  this  Tavern  for  so  many  years,  was  painted 
by  that  somewhat  famous  Bucks  County  Artist,  Edward  Hicks,  a  near  relative 
(and  perhaps  brother,)  of  Elias  Hicks,  the  founder  of  the  religious  denomina- 
tion, known  as  Hicksite  Friends;  this  sign  was  taken  down  long  since,  and 
has  disappeared.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  in  the  near  future,  coaching  parties 
will  find  New  Hope  a  convenient  stopping  place,  being  located  midway 
between  Philadelphia  and  Fasten  en  route  to  the  Delaware  Water  Gap,  and 
for  travellers  bound  for  New  York  City,  it  is  but  an  easy  day's  journey  of 
thirty-four  (34)  miles  only,  by  turnpike  from  Philadelphia,  along  the  line  of 
the  historic  Old  York  Road. 

As  a  matter  of  record  it  may  be  well  here  to  state  that  in  the  way  of 
journalism.  New  Hope  has  had  three  newspapers,  as  below: 

The  New  Hope  Monitor,  published  in  1881,  weekly,  by  A.  T.  Shampanore, 
discontinued. 

The  New  Hope  Express,  published  in  1885  by  Charles  Haigh,  weekly, 
discontinued. 

The  New  Hope  News  published  weekly.  Dr.  R.  B.  Glasgow,  editor,  first 
issued  in  January,  1892,  and  still  regularly  continued. 

The  following  are  among  the  families  now  longest  resident  in  New  Hope 
and  which  have  been  identified  with  the  place  for  generations:  the  Paxsons, 
Elys,  Parrys,  Foulkes,  Murrays,  Crooks,  Lamberts,  Stocktons,  Sollidays, 
Scarboroughs,  and  perhaps  a  few  others. 

There  are  three  places  of  public  worship  in  New  Hope,  the  frame  Presby- 
terian Chapel  on  the  Old  York  Road,  heretofore  mentioned ;  the  Methodist 
Church  solidly  built  in  brown  stone,  on  Main  Street  just  north  of  the  York 
Road;  and  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  also  substantially  constructed  of 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  383 

stone,  and  standing  well  up  the  hill  near  the  corner  of  Mechanic  and 
New  "Streets. 

Recently  the  steam  cars  of  the  Philadelphia  &  Reading  Rail  Road 
Company,  have  invaded  this  quiet  old  fashioned  borough,  and  somewhat 
aroused  it  from  its  lethargy. 

Looking  backward  through  the  vista  of  more  than  a  century  it  seems 
difficult  to  realize,  that  the  village,  and  the  now  peaceful  highways  about  us, 
once  resounded  with  the  bustle  of  war,  and  the  frequent  tramp  of  armed 
men,  as  our  patriot  sires  hurried  forward  to  do  battle  for  their  country,  or 
fell  back  in  the  sadder  marches  of  retreat.  The  years  have  come  and  the 
years  have  gone  since  the  days  of  Revolution,  bringing  with  them  many 
changes;  but  the  old  settlement  at  Coryell's  still  remains,  nestling  close 
beside  the  noble  river,  at  the  ferry,  which  our  forefathers  defended  in  the 
grand  old  heroic  days. 

MAPLE  GROVE. 

An  article  entitled  Maple  Grove,  by  Richard  Randolph  Parry,  signed 
"  Ar,"  appeared  in  the  Bucks  County  Intelligencer,  of  May  8,  A.  D.  1880. 

On  the  right  of  Old  York  Road  in  leaving  New  Hope  for  Doylestown 
the  old  mansion  of  "  Maple  Grove  "  is  seen.  An  old  plan  of  New  Hope  in 
A.  D.  1798  marks  this  place  No.  29,  calling  it  "  Oliver  Paxson's  house."  He 
lived  here  before  the  Revolution.  He  was  the  son  of  Thomas  and  Jane 
Canby  Paxson,  and  inherited  the  property  from  his  father.  One  of  his 
brothers  was  named  Isaiah  and  he  is  remembered  in  the  name  of  Paxson's 
Island  in  the  Delaware  River,  between  Centre  Bridge  and  Lumberton. 

Another  brother  named  Timothy  was  a  noted  merchant  of  Philadelphia, 
and  an  executor  of  Stephen  Girard's  will. 

Maple  Grove  embraces  260  acres  of  good  farm  land,  and  besides  the 
mansion  there  is  a  good  sized  farm  house  of  stone,  a  coachman's  house,  barns 
and  stables.     It  has  always  been  "  a  goodly  estate." 

The  mansion  was  originally  built  in  old  style,  being  a  double  stone 
house,  two  stories  high,  surmounted  by  attics.  The  front  door  introduced  the 
visitor  into  a  spacious  hall.  Rooms  opened  on  each  side.  The  windows  were 
filled  with  small,  old-fashioned  panes  of  glass. 

Much  of  the  old  building  remains,  but  several  years  ago  a  part  of  it  was 
demolished,  and  the  house  was  modernized  by  the  great-grandchildren  of 
Oliver  Paxson,  who  were  the  heirs  of  Elias  Ely,  Esq.,  who  had  owned  it. 

It  has  now  a  fine  appearance. 

Many  of  the  trees  which  adorn  the  avenue  were  planted  by  Elias  Ely. 
He  died  here  on  the  15th  of  February,  A.  D.  1836,  at  the  age  of  forty,  and 
was  interred  in  the  Friends'  burying  ground  of  Solebury. 

Davis's  History  of  Bucks  County,  (p.  687),  states  that  the  precise  age  of 
the  mansion  is  unknown,  although  it  was  "  built  for  Oliver  Paxson,  great- 


384  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

uncle  of  the  late   occupant,  Oliver  Paxson,"     The  last  named  gentleman 
died  on  February  17,  A.  D.  1876. 

In  the  Revolution  General  Washington  and  Lady  Washington  occupied 
the  mansion  for  a  time. 

Davis's  History  says  that  General  Washington  tied  his  horse  to  the  large 
old  tree,  which  yet  stands  near  the  end  of  the  lane,  when  his  army  was 
passing  over  the  river  at  Coryell's  Ferry  in  1778.  This  place  is  now  called 
New  Hope. 

Oliver  Paxson  was  prominent  among  the  Friends.  He  was  just  in  his 
business,  as  is  the  characteristic  of  that  society. 

He  was  liberal  in  judging  others.  One  of  his  granddaughters  gave  an 
anecdote  illustrating  this. 

Opposite  the  lane  of  Maple  Grove  still  stands  an  old  frame  house,  with 
*a  hip  roof,  where  lived  a  worthy  pair  bearing  the  names  of  John  and  Jane 
Poor.  Mrs.  Poor  was  distinguished  in  the  vicinity  for  her  humble,  pious  and 
virtuous  Christian  life.  These  people  were  Presbyterians,  and  were  friends  of 
the  Paxsons,  who  had  a  great  regard  for  them.  Oliver  Paxson  often  spent 
hours  in  friendly  conversation  with  this  family.  Some  one  asked  him  why 
he  did  not  strive  to  bring  Jane  Poor  into  the  belief  of  the  Friends;  he 
answered :  "  Let  her  alone,  I  am  not  sure  but  that  her  chances  for  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven,  are  far  better  than  mine." 

Oliver  Paxson's  first  wife  was  Ruth  Watson. 

Of  their  three  children,  Henry  is  supposed  to  have  died  in  childhood. 
Jane  married  Benjamin  Parry,  on  the  4th  of  November  A.  D.  1787.  Ruth 
married  Hugh  Ely.     She  died  on  the  18th  of  March,  A.  D.  1851,  aged  83. 

Mrs  Ruth  Watson  Paxson  died  on  the  16th  of  September,  1774,  aged  34, 
and  was  buried  in  the  Friends'  Buckingham  burial  ground. 

Oliver  Paxson's  second  wife  bore  the  same  faithful  name  Ruth,  her 
family  name  being  Johnson.  She  lived  several  years  after  her  husband's 
death,  and  died  in  Philadelphia  in  1817. 

Benjamin  Parry  and  Hugh  Ely,  the  sons-in-law  of  Oliver  Paxson,  were 
his  executors. 

HISTORICAL  ARTICLES. 

In  the  Bucks  County  Intelligencer  in  1873  a  series  of  interesting  articles  on 
the  history  of  regions  in  Bucks  County  appeared  from  the  pen  of  the  excellent 
local  historian  William  J.  Buck.  To  those  entitled  "  The  Cuttalossa"  is  pre- 
fixed the  following  from  John  G.  Whittier,  who  had  sojourned  near  the 
stream :  "  I  remember  well  the  little  river,  the  woodlands,  meadows  and 
the  junction  of  the  Cuttalossa  with  the  Delaware." 

The  connection  of  the  poet  with  the  beautiful  stream  gives  it  a  new 
interest,  as  a  following  extract  from  Washington  Irving  speaks  of  the  charm 
of  "  every  place  immortalized  by  the  poet." 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  385 

Whittier  in  1839  and  1840  was  for  a  time  in  a  farm  house,  now  the 
property  of  Watson  Scarborough  about  a  half  mile  from  the  Cuttalossa  not  far 
from  Lumberton.  He  used  at  this  time  to  go  to  Lumberville  to  get  his  mail. 
He  was  then  thirty-two  years  old.  He  was  fond  of  garden  work  and  mingled 
labor  and  study. 

Joseph  Healy  owned  the  farm  on  which  the  poet  resided.  His  wife, 
Rachael,  was  the  daughter  of  Edward  P.  Little,  a  Massachusetts  Congressman. 

The  poem  on  Indian  Corn  quoted  by  Mr.  Buck  shows  how  a  poet  who 
had  wielded  the  hoe  loved  it.     We  add  a  verse : 

"  All  through  the  long  bright  days  of  June, 
Its  leaves  grow  green  and  fair, 
And  waved  in  hot  midsummer's  noon 
Its  soft  and  yellow  hair." 

Mr.  Healy,  who  was  from  Massachusetts,  published  the  Pennsylvania 
Freeman,  and  he  employed  Mr.  Whittier  to  edit  it. 

Buck  gives  a  most  interesting  extract  in  No.  XX  of  his  series  from  the 
native  poet  Kenderdine,  entitled  "Kept  In,"  in  which  the  musings  are 
described  of  a  boy  kept  in  at  noon-time  while  birds  sing  and  boys  play 
outside,  and  his  beloved  Martha  Jane  enjoys  herself  without,  while  he  suffers 
within  for  having  sent  her  a  message  in  school. 

"  Buckwampum  "  is  the  title  of  an  article,  being  the  Indian  name  of  a 
hill  in  Springfield  township  northeast  of  Bursonville,  near  the  line  of 
Durham. 

William  J.  Buck's  History  of  Bucks  County  is  a  pamphlet  which  was 
published  in  Doylestown,  in  1855.  To  it  is  appended  the  history  of  the  town- 
ship of  Wrightstown,  by  Charles  W.  Smith,  M.  D. 

Mr.  Buck's  articles  had  been  printed  in  the  Bucks  County  Intelligencer, 
which  was  conducted  by  John  S.  Brown,  and  copies  were  struck  off  in 
pamphlet  form,  as  their  interest  demanded  it. 

On  page  35  of  this  volume  we  learn  that  Benedict  Arnold  was  stationed 
at  Coryell's  Ferry,  now  New  Hope,  with  his  command.  He  and  General 
Potter  examined  the  fords  from  Trenton  to  Coryell's,  and  Arnold  reported  to 
President  Wharton,  April  2,  1777. 

Daniel  Longstreth,  who  wrote  a  memoir  of  John  Fitch,  was  a  descendant 
of  Bartholomew  Longstreth,  a  settler  of  1699  in  Warminster,  near  Johnsville, 
as  is  noted  in  the  above  named  history. 

In  1845  Samuel  Hart  wrote  a  communication  to  the  Historical  Society, 
saying  that  from  50  to  55  years  before  on  his  father's  farm,  on  the  Old  York 
Road,  21  miles  from  Philadelphia,  briars,  weeds,  bushes  and  trees  could  be 
viewed  on  surrounding  farms.  Cultivation  was  carelessly  performed.  The 
people  were  hospitable  and  affectionate.  This  communication  is  noticed  in 
Buck's  History  of  Bucks  County.  Things  are  changed  now,  as  smiling  and 
well-tilled  farms  meet  the  eye  of  the  traveller  on  every  side. 
25 


386  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

In  Dr.  Charles  W.  Smith's  History  of  the  Township  of  Wrightstown 
appended  to  Buck's  History,  we  find  it  stated  that  John  Chapman,  the  first 
settler  in  Wrightstown,  died  in  1694,  and  was  buried  in  the  "  Park,"  in  the 
old  graveyard,  "  west  of  Pennsville."  His  wife  Jane  was  buried  near  him, 
in  1699. 

*'  The  following  epitaph  on  John  Chapman,  the  elder,  is  in  the  hand- 
writing of  his  son,  Joseph  Chapman : 

'Behold  John  Chapman,  that  Christian  man  who  first  began 

To  settle  in  this  town, 
From  worldly  care  and  doubtful  fears,  and  Satan's  snares, 

Is  here  laid  down; 
His  soul  doth  rise,  above  the  skies,  in  Paradise, 

There  to  wear  a  lasting  crown.' " 

The  following  is  from  the  Bucks  CovMty  or  Doylestown  Intelligencer  founded 
by  Asher  Miner  in  1804,  now  edited  by  Alfred  Paschall  &  Co.  The  date  of 
this  publication  is  September  13,  1889. 

FROM  AN  OLD  CORRESPONDENT. 

HINTS   AND   SCRAPS — EASY  OBSERVATIONS   HERE   AND    THERE — FILLING   BLANKS 

AS    IT    WERE. 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Intelligencer: 

A  great  variety  and  intensity  of  employment,  for  a  man  of  my  age,  has 
prevented  me  from  keeping  pari  passu  with  the  correspondence  which  has 
appeared  in  the  Intelligencer,  pending  aijd  following  my  two-column  screed  of 
some  three  months  ago.  I  have  wanted  to  pay  my  regards  to  my  dear  old 
friend,  W.  M.  L.,  or  rather  to  a  few  of  his  observations,  and  I  have  also  wanted 
to  conclude  my  observations  in  reference  to  my  late  hasty  visit  to  my  native 
County.     If  now  indulged  I  will  proceed  to  do  so. 

In  the  latter  part  of  that  beautiful  First-day,  in  early  summer,  William 
and  I,  in  his  comfortable  conveyance,  left  my  Cousin  Paxson's  for  a  drive  back 
to  Doylestown  througli  some  of  my  youthful  haunts  in  the  upper  part  of  Buck- 
ingham. We  went  up  the  Street  Road  from  Greenville,  past  the  former 
residence  of  Surveyor  John  Watson,  so-called,  who,  in  my  memory,  was  a 
walking  encyclopaedia  of  literature,  history  and  anecdote  in  1823-28,  with 
whose  "  first  family  "  I  was  acquainted  individually,  whose  second  marriage 
I  well  remember  and  whose  daughter  and  son  by  that  marriage  I  well  knew 
of  erst.  One  of  his  older  daughters  by  his  wife,  Euphemia,  nee  Ingham,  was  a 
namesake  and  maid  of  my  grandmother  Ely,  and  lived  with  her  at  our  house 
in  Lahaska  Valley,  where  her  father  paid  almost  weekly  visits  and  enter- 
tained the  family  with  his  instructive  remarks.  I  remember  well  when 
John   Watson    built   a    frame    shop    on    the    roadside   opposite    his    own 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  387 

residence  and  established  in  it  Alexander  Johnson  Case,  as  a  most  excellent 
and  acceptable  neighborhood  shoemaker,  who  afterwards  purchased  land  on 
the  Old  York  Road,  erected  a  residence  and  shop  of  his  own,  married  one  of 
the  beautiful  Carver  girls  at  Milton,  (now  Carversville)  and  begat  sons  and 
daughters — as  one  of  your  own  prominent  citizens  can  testify. 

Leaving  the  Watson  premises,  we  noticed  a  field  on  the  right  hand  side 
of  the  road,  which  in  my  boyhood  was  a  part  of  the  William  Williams  place. 
In  that  field,  over  sixty  years  ago,  I  saw  the  ground  thrown  up,  over  a  consid- 
erable space,  wood  placed  in  and  covered  with  earth,  when  the  fuel  was  fired 
like  a  charcoal  pit,  and  the  earth  by  which  it  was  covered  baked  in  order  to 
kill  the  Canada  thistle.  I  do  not  remember  whether  the  experiment  suc- 
ceeded. Next,  as  we  progressed  northward,  we  saw  the  Charles  Parry  place, 
since  owned  and  occupied  by  Joseph  Fell,  beyond  which  we  discerned  the 
Williams  and  Paxson  houses,  memorable  for  the  worth  of  those  who  occupied 
them  in  days  "  Lang  Syne." 

I  wrote  the  reminiscences,  "  Sixty  Years  Ago,"  for  your  papers,  in  1873, 
Thomas  Paxson,  was  then  living.  Benjamin  White  was  once  an  eminent 
preacher  among  the  Friends  of  whom  I  spoke. 

I  wish  some  one  would  write  for  your  paper  a  concise  and  full  description 
of  the  geology  and  topography  of  Buckingham  township.  It  would  be  very 
acceptable  to  old  residents.  Now  the  limestone  formation  of  the  valley  proper 
to  the  flat  clay  lands  in  the  vicinity  of  Mechanicsville — the  old  "  Halifax  " — 
is  a  sudden  change.  But  the  granite  (I  suppose)  rocks  abundant  in  the 
"Joshua  Beans"  field,  near  old  Tyro  Hall,  have  generally  disappeared,  I  believe ; 
probably  as  the  effect  of  good  farming,  while  the  school  itself  has  been  moved 
bodily  half  a  mile  up  the  road.  In  fact,  the  former  "  Town  Den  "  above  the 
school  house,  which  in  my  boyhood  was  sheltered  by  a  wood  on  the  left — the 
highway  being  on  the  right — and  which  was  kept  smooth  and  bare  by  the 
daily  games,  is  now  actually  occupied  by  dwelling  houses — as  though  there 
was  not  room  to  live  outside  of  the  limits  of  the  "  twinkling  footsteps  "  of  late 
generations.  Even  on  the  roadside  below  the  old  school  house  are  erected  at 
least  two  separate  "  homes, "  rendered  necessary,  I  presume,  by  the  natural 
increase  of  population.     Is  there  not  some  consolation  in  Byron's  wild  lines : 

"  Man  marks  the  earth  with  ruin :    his  control 
Ends  with  the  shore." 

Those  who  have  cultivated  a  regard  for  forestry  would  see  many  occa- 
sions for  regret  in  the  sequestration  of  woods  in  Buckingham  during  the  pass- 
ing century.  An  old  shady  walk  by  the  brookside,  to  and  from  school,  by 
"  Little  "  Josh  Gilbert's,  Sammy  Gilbert's,  Rowland  Ellis',  and  the  Andersons' 
has  been  greatly  stripped. 

I  attended  Tyro  Hall  School  under  the  tutelage  of  John  Gillingham  and 
John  P.  Thornton,  at  times,  in  1819-27,  and  there  commenced  the  study  of 


388  THE  YORK  ROAD. 

English  grammar — Comly's — January  '26, 1826,  as  appears  from  an  inscription 
in  the  book  itself.  John  Gillingham,  a  great  uncle  of  the  late  J.  Gillingham 
Fell,  I  believe,  was  the  best  teacher  of  the  old  (King  Solomon)  school  who  ever 
taught  at  Tyro.  He  was  as  thorough  in  his  inculcations  as  in  his  discipline. 
John  P.  Thornton,  educated  at  John  Gummere's  school  in  Bushington  was  a 
good  classical  and  mathematical  scholar  for  his  day  and  enjoyed  the  respect 
and  affection  of  his  scholars,  who  strove  by  good  conduct  to  merit  his  approv- 
ing smiles.  Joseph  S.  Large  and  Joseph  Fell  afterward  taught  in  the  old 
house,  but  since  my  time.  By  the  recent  death  of  Charles  P.  Large,  James 
C.  Iden  and  Harvey  Shaw,  as  far  as  I  know,  I  am  left  the  last  survivor  of  the 
boys  of  my  time  at  old  Tyro,  though  there  may  be  one  or  two  others. 

On  the  left  hand  side  of  the  road  from  Greenville  to  old  Tyro  Hall  the 
landscape  has  but  little  changed  in  sixty  years,  save  in  regard  to  loss  of  woods. 
The  farms  occupied  in  my  boyhood  by  Large,  Anderson,  Ellis  and  Gilbert 
families,  seen  near  and  in  the  distance,  have  a  "  natural "  and  familiar  appear- 
ance, awakening  precious  memories.  Later  occupancy  may  have  blotted  from 
the  recollection  of  many  who  now  see  them  daily,  even  the  names  of  the  old 
time  owners,  but  those  who  have  read  the  history  of  Bryn  Mawr  will  not  soon 
forget  the  name  of  the  venerable  Rowland  Ellis,  the  "  Welsh  Quaker 
Preacher,"  who  founded  that  beautiful  seat,  and  whose  namesake  and 
descendant  once  owned  and  dwelt  upon  one  of  the  beautiful  places  I  now 
allude  to — that  is,  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  present  century. 

Proceeding  toward  the  "  Mud  Lane,"  by  which  we  approached  Mechanics- 
ville,  we  passed  the  William  Gillingham  place,  whose  fine  apple  orchard, 
cider  press  and  watermelon  patches  were  daily  observed  and  occasionally 
enjoyed  on  my  way  to  and  from  school,  after  my  father  bought  a  farm  at 
Halifax  and  removed  to  that  place  in  1818.  This  village,  so  much  improved, 
has  been  completely  transformed  of  late  years  through  the  energy  and  enter- 
prise, or  more  probably  genius,  of  my  excellent  cousin,  Samuel  Wilson,  the 
well  known  seedman  of  Bucks  County.  My  friend  W.  M.  L.,  was  kindly 
conveying  me  to  the  house  of  this  dear  relative  and  his  pleasant  family, 
where  we  enjoyed  their  hospitality  and  a  cursory  examination  of  the  planta- 
tion, greenhouses  and  conservatories  of  this  extensive  establishment.  No 
scene  familiar  in  my  earlier  boyhood  has  been  more  improved  than  the 
Wilson  ground  about  Mechanicsville.  The  sparse  village  of  1820-25  has 
become  a  considerable  town.  My  maternal  grandfather's  place,  occupied  as  a 
farm  since  1700  at  least,  and  on  which  buildings  are  yet  standing,  erected  in 
the  first  quarter  of  the  last  century,  which  farm  I  knew  in  1819  or  earlier, 
from  the  fine  old  chestnut  trees  in  the  lane,  the  early  cherries,  "  the  orchard 
and  meadow,"  is  now  a  carefully  cultivated  garden,  devoted  by  an  accom- 
plished master  of  his  profession  to  the  growth  of  plants,  seeds  and  other 
seminal  principles  of  almost  every  thing  "green"  that  can  be  named.  This 
place  is  as  well  worthy  of  a  visit  and  of  examination  by  the  curious  travelers 
and  sight-seers  as  any  locality  or  object  I  know  of  in  old  Bucks  County.     Like 


THE  YORK  ROAD.  389 

Bartram,  Henderson  and  other  veteran  seed  and  plant  growers  Samuel 
Wilson  has  added  greatly  to  the  character  of  his  profession  in  my  native  State. 

My  friend  W.  M.  L.,  whose  lucubrations  occasionally  appear  in  your 
esteemed  journal,  has  paid  a  deserved  compliment  to  my  cousin  and  his  inter- 
esting family  for  their  hospitality.  Old  as  I  am,  I  hope  to  live  long  enough 
to  test  it  again,  for  I  fear  my  cousin  Samuel,  who  has  done  so  much,  is  even  a 
wiser  man  than  I  am,  and  may  not  give  me  an  opportunity  to  return  in  kind. 

Leaving  Mechanics ville  in  the  mellow  light  of  evening  we  drove  to 
Doylestown  via  the  old  George  Burgess,  William  Watson,  Sands'  Corner  and 
Robert  Shaw  places,  whose  owners  were  active  men  in  1825.  We  passed 
Church's  school  house  and  Seneca  Fell's  and  reached  "Chestnut  Grove"  in  the 
early  evening,  (calling  up  all  the  way  the  ghosts  of  the  past.)  Nowhere  on  the 
road  have  greater  changes  been  wrought  or  improvements  made  than  in  the 
last  named  place,  where  my  good  old  friend  W.  M.  L.  now  resides,  which  I 
knew  in  my  boyhood  as  one  of  the  poorest  and  least  inviting  spots  in  the 
county;  now  a  beautiful,  valuable  and  highly  cultivated  farm  with  spacious 
and  elegant  buildings.     Thus  at  Doylestown  ended  the  day's  excursion. 

We  are  informed  that  the  "  Old  Correspondent  "  was  Seneca  W.  Ely,  one 
of  the  editors  of  the  Cincinnati  Commercial  Gazette.  The  author  of  this  volume 
would  add  that  "  W.  M.  L."  is  William  M.  Large,  who  wrote  him  in  1892  that 
he  had  "reached  the  81st  milestone  in  the  race  of  life."  He  replied  to  my 
request  for  notes  from  him :  "  When  my  eyes  were  good  I  loved  to  scribble, 
and  particularly  so  if  I  thought  it  tended  to  the  entertainment  of  the  public." 
He  commends  General  Davis  as  "  an  acknowledged  historian." 

A  series  of  interesting  articles  from  the  pen  of  that  excellent  local 
historian,  J.  S.  Williams,  of  New  Hope,  appeared  in  The  Doylestown 
Intelligencer,  edited  by  the  Paschall  Brothers,  in  February  and  March,  1888. 
The  author  of  this  volume  had  expected  to  insert  them  here,  but  space  forbids. 
The  local  historians  of  the  upper  part  of  Bucks  County  have  matter  enough 
to  make  another  volume  and  would  be  doing  a  good  work  in  thus  collecting 
and  preserving  it. 


^  ^     O^  ^  JT 


FOX  *  CHASE 


AND 


VICINITY. 


BY 

Rev.  S.  F.  HOTCHKIN, 

1892. 


g  y    C^O    <  ^ 


FOX  CHASE.  393 

The  Pennypack  Creek  is  the  connecting  link  between  Old  York  Road,  Fox 
Chase  and  Bustleton.  A  bridge  at  Hatboro  spans  the  winding  stream.  A 
pleasant  walk  of  a  few  miles  over  the  hills  brings  the  pedestrian  to  Hunting- 
don Valley,  a  little  above  Fox  Chase  on  the  Second  Street  Turnpike,  near 
where  our  notes  touch,  as  Moredun  is  just  below  the  village.  The  Big  Rock 
on  the  Walton  farm  near  Fenton  Station,  named  for  the  Fenton  farm  (now 
Walnut  Hill  Station),  is  a  wonderful  natural  curiosity.  It  is  a  hill  in  itself, 
requiring  much  climbing,  but  commanding  a  beautiful  view  of  the  Creek  and 
farm  lands  about  it,  A  level  plain  among  the  trees  above  makes  a  nice  table 
for  picnics,  and  a  little  cave  below  is  said  to  have  sheltered  cattle  hidden  by 
the  Americans  in  the  Revolution,  for  fear  of  seizure  by  British  soldiers,  though 
not  many  animals  could  have  stood  there.  Boys  now  delight  to  make  a  fire 
in  the  open  cave.  Above  Mr.  Ely's  residence,  the  late  Newberry  Allen  Smith's 
fine  place,  now  occupied  by  his  son-in-law,  Mr.  Harvey,  is  close  at  hand,  and 
the  Lippincott  place  is  near  it,  and  the  Barnsley  farm  is  almost  opposite. 

Huntingdon  Valley,  named  after  the  pious  and  generous  English  Countess 
of  Huntingdon,  has  a  Presbyterian  and  Methodist  Church  and  an  Odd  Fel- 
lows' Hall.  Walton's  old  grist-mill  is  historic,  and  Alnwick  Grove  picnic 
grounds,  connected  with  the  property,  are  romantic  and  beautiful,  running 
along  the  waterside.  The  Newtown  Railroad  passes  through  them,  and  a  new 
depot  takes  the  place  of  the  old  one  at  Huntingdon  Valley,  and  the  Bound 
Brook  Route,  or  North  Penn  Railway,  has  also  a  good  brick  station,  called 
Beth  Ayres,  in  memory  of  Elizabeth  Ayres,  of  the  family  of  Franklin  Comly, 
a  former  President  of  the  North  Penn  Railway,  whose  relatives  lived  in  this 
section.  A  country  hotel  is  near  the  depot,  and  the  Lady  Washington  Hotel, 
above,  is  ancient,  and  there  is  a  tradition  that  General  Washington's  wife 
once  stopped  there. 

The  electric  light  is  now  introduced  in  this  village.  Edward  H.  Burling's 
residence  is  on  a  hill  which  commands  a  fine  view. 

Monroe  Willard's  fine  stone  house,  and  those  of  Harrison  Woodward,  Esq., 
and  John  Kinzey  are  noteworthy,  and  quite  a  number  of  new  buildings  have 
arisen  of  late.     The  Ayres  farm  is  in  the  central  part  of  the  village. 

Hallowell's  old  mill  is  below  the  lower  hotel. 

The  farms  of  Henry  Stout,  Croasdale  Knight  and  Thomas  Jackson  were 
above  the  village. 

Dr.  Bellows  and  Dr.  J.  R.  Robinson  are  practising  physicians  in  this  village. 

MOREDUN. 

This  name,  meaning  a  great  hill,  suggested  by  Sir  Walter  Scott's  works,  is 
fitly  applied  to  the  beautiful  eminence  at  Walnut  Hill  Station,  on  the  New- 
town Railroad,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  north  of  Fox  Chase. 

Samuel  W.  Haines,  a  Philadelphia  merchant,  bought  this  property  of  the 
Fire  Association  of  Philadelphia,  though  it  had  at  one  time  belonged  to  his 
father,  John  T,  Haines. 


394  FOX  CHASE. 

In  1890  the  colonial  house,  showing  the  pointed  local  stone  from  the 
property  and  shingle  work  in  an  attractive  manner,  is  noticeable  as  one 
drives  along  Moredun  Avenue. 

Hazlehurst  &  Huckel  were  the  architects,  and  the  dwelling  was  erected 
under  the  supervision  of  the  owner. 

The  building  is  finished  in  hard  wood  throughout,  cherry,  oak  and  chestnut 
varying  the  work.  Steam  heat  by  indirect  radiation  is  employed,  and  gas  is 
made  on  the  premises. 

An  elevated  drive-way,  curbed  with  stone,  leads  to  the  mansion,  and  very 
massive  and  striking  gate-posts  are  at  the  entrance  on  the  avenue. 

A  summer-house  adorns  the  front  lawn. 

The  property  borders  on  the  picturesque  Pennypack  Creek  for  about  fifteen 
hundred  feet. 

The  view  of  hill  and  woodland  from  the  piazza  is  remarkably  striking  and 
beautiful,  and  the  "  Big  Rock  "  is  close  at  hand  to  add  its  charm  to  the  scenery. 

Thomas  H.  Wilson,  a  large  woolen  manufacturer  of  Philadelphia,  has 
bought  a  part  of  this  property  and  intends  to  build  in  the  near  future,  on  the 
hill  opposite,  at  the  intersection  of  Pine  Road  and  Moredun  Avenue. 

SMITH  HARPER'S  MANUFACTORY. 

At  Harper  Station,  on  the  Newtown  Railroad,  are  the  Fox  Chase  Works, 
which  manufacture  Garden  Rakes,  Hoes,  Pumps  and  Water  Engines.  This 
mill  lies  on  Spring  Valley  Creek,  a  branch  of  the  Pennypack.  William  Har- 
per, father  of  Smith  Harper,  was  the  former  owner.  The  property  includes 
the  site  of  the  ancient  Roberts'  grist-mill,  worked  by  Lewis  Roberts  previous 
to  1780.  A  spring-house  is  now  on  the  site  of  the  mill.  In  later  time  a  larger 
mill  was  used  by  Nathan  Bunker.  \ 

The  farm  is  called  Spring  Valley  Farm. 

The  present  residence  of  stone  was  built  about  twelve  years  ago.  Jacob 
Mattis  was  the  architect  and  builder. 

The  position  is  a  remarkably  fine  one,  as  the  elevation  gives  a  pleasant  view 
of  the  lakes  below  and  the  surrounding  hills  and  trees.  The  country  is  rugged 
and  broken,  affording  a  beautiful  landscape. 

Saw  Mill  School  House  surmounts  the  hill  near  by,  on  the  Second  Street 
Pike,  and  a  flag  waving  there  the  other  day  from  a  high  pole  told  of  the 
loyalty  of  Young  America. 

The  Abraham  Blake  farm,  long  in  the  hands  of  that  family,  and  joining 
Smith  Harper's  place,  has  been  purchased  by  Mr.  Harper. 

The  farm  where  resided  the  late  Charles  Linton,  divided  by  Newtown  Rail- 
way near  Harper's  Station,  was  the  property  of  Isaiah  Waterman,  and  was 
heired  by  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Linton.  It  has  lately  been  bought  by  a  syn- 
dicate. The  same  syndicate  has  bought  "  Stanley,"  one  of  the  old  Wistar 
places. 


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FOX  CHASE.  399 

Anthony  Livezey's  old  farm,  which  joins  Smith  Harper's  property,  has 
been  bought  by  Smith  Harper.  Thomas  Yerkes  formerly  owned  this  place. 
Anthony  Livezey  was  his  son-in-law. 

The  place  on  Shady  Lane  owned  by  Samuel  M.  Jarrett  and  occupied  by  his 
son  Charles  was  Joel  Cadwalader's  property. 

The  Craig  Lippincott  place  was  owned  by  William  T.  Morrison,  After  his 
death  it  was  bought  by  Mr.  Lippincott,  who  built  the  striking  mansion  in 
1889.     William  T.  Decker  was  the  architect.     Rea  &  Riley  were  the  builders. 

There  was  an  old  forge-mill  on  this  property,  where  iron  was  forged  gener- 
ations ago,  and  the  pits  and  excavated  ground  show  remains  of  the  ancient 
work. 

The  property  belonged  in  earlier  days  to  Lewis  Roberts  and  his  father, 
John  Roberts. 

I  am  indebted  to  Abel  S.Roberts  for  local  information  here.  He  has  a 
pleasant  farm  on  the  Second  Street  Pike,  near  the  Harper  Mills, 

The  farm  of  Samuel  M.  Jarrett  contains  one  of  the  oldest  farm-houses  in 
the  neighborhood. 

Joseph  Waterman  owned  the  place  in  former  days.  The  lawm  extends 
beautifully  along  Shady  Lane  and  Second  Street  Pike,  and  a  picturesque 
spring-house  is  in  the  front  of  the  property.  An  old  log-house  preceded  the 
stone  dwelling.  It  stood  just  in  front  of  the  present  house,  and  a  log  barn 
was  destroyed  twenty-three  years  ago.     So  the  old  relics  vanish. 

Mrs.  Jarrett  was  a  daughter  of  Joseph  Waterman. 

The  farm-house  is  roomy  and  comfortable.  Its  location  on  the  hillside  is 
attractive. 

The  farm  contains  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres. 

AIRY  HILL. 

This  farm  is  now  the  home  of  Joshua  Longstreth,  a  descendant  of  Barthol- 
omew Longstreth,  who  married  Ann  Dawson,  as  narrated  in  the  sketch  of 
Hatboro,  as  given  in  this  volume. 

Charles  C.  Dawson  compiled  a  large  volume  on  the  family  records  of  this 
family. 

Evan  Morris,  the  maternal  great-grandfather  of  Joshua  Longstreth,  first 
obtained  this  property.     Richard  Dung  worth  was  owner  before  his  day. 

The  son  of  Evan  Morris  was  Morris  Morris,  and  his  son  was  Joshua ;  and 
Joseph  Longstreth  married  his  daughter  Susanna,  to  whom  the  father  left 
the  property,  and  this  lady  willed  the  place  to  her  son  Josiah  for  his  life,  and 
then  it  was  to  pass  to  his  children. 

Susanna  Morris  was  the  wife  of  Morris  Morris,  a  minister  among  Friends. 
She  thrice  dreamed  that  she  would  be  shipwrecked,  and  her  dream  came  true. 
The  incident  is  narrated  in  William  Hodgson's  Memoirs  of  Friends. 

The  ample  dwelling  of  stone  has  been  doubled  in  size  by  the  present  owner. 


400  FOX  CHASE. 

Susanna  Longstreth,  the  grandmother  of  Joshua  Longstreth,  died  in  the 
Morey  House  in  Fox  Chase  in  1815,  and  was  buried  in  Abington  Friends' 
graveyard. 

The  Morey  House  was  owned  by  the  Waterman  family,  and  has  lately  been 
bought  by  Dr.  Filbert. 

BIEWOOD. 

John  Pemberton  Newbold,  of  the  old  Pemberton  family  of  Philadelphia, 
now  owns  this  ancient  place,  and  dwells  herewith  his  wife  and  three  children. 
Mrs.  Newbold  is  the  daughter  of  the  late  H.  Albert  Denckla,  of  Philadelphia. 

The  position  of  the  antique  dwelling,  near  a  wood  on  a  high  bank,  with  a 
fine  view  of  rolling  land  in  front,  is  remarkabl}''  striking  and  picturesque. 

This  was  an  old  residence  of  the  Wistar  family. 

Thomas  Wistar  once  owned  the  property,  and  his  son  Joseph  occupied  it  in 
the  summer.  The  house  has  been  enlarged  at  various  times.  The  original 
dwelling  was  of  stone,  and  the  additions  are  of  wood.  The  latticed  windows 
inserted  by  Mr.  Newbold  give  an  English  look.  A  remarkably  heavy  stone 
work  around  the  fireplace  has  a  very  pretty  effect. 

The  place  is  situated  on  romantic  Shady  Lane,  which  is  a  favorite  drive. 

In  walking  from  Fox  Chase  to  Bustleton,  the  pedestrian,  on  reaching  Shady 
Lane,  may  leave  the  public  road  and  take  a  path  along  the  beautiful  Penny- 
pack  Creek,  the  rival  of  the  Wissahickon.  The  winding  stream  contains  rocks 
which  part  its  current  and  start  the  murmurs  of  the  water  checked  in  its  flow. 
The  green  moss  and  fallen  leaves  under  the  feet,  and  the  rock-strewn  bank 
and  a  fallen  tree  make  the  foot-path  romantic,  and  if  one  seeks  an  easier  jour- 
ney, he  may  pass  through  the  ancient  trees  to  the  top  of  the  hill,  and  enter 
another  path  which  follows  the  edge  of  the  wood  until,  by  a  gentle  descent,  he 
passes  a  long,  old,  white  cottage  under  the  hill,  like  that  where  the  old  woman 
lived  in  the  nursery  poem.  It  is  now  deserted,  and  no  smoke  ascends  from  its 
chimneys.  The  Penny  pack  Bridge  and  Verree's  Mills  are  at  hand,  and  the 
Animal  Farm  and  Pennypack  Church  and  Lyngonierare  passed,  and  another 
wildwood  path  leads  on  to  Bustleton,  over  a  succession  of  little  hills,  and  amid 
trees  beautiful  in  summer  verdure  or  under  winter  snow. 

HILTON. 

Hazlehurst  &  Huckel  designed  the  improvements  of  this  ancient  mansion, 
striving  to  carry  out  the  old  colonial  style  of  architecture,  there  so  well  exhib- 
ited. 

The  position  is  high,  and  the  old  stone  dwelling  looks  with  a  quiet  dignity 
on  the  surrounding  landscape,  where  it  has  seen  the  trees  grow  and  perish, 
and  generations  come  and  go. 

This  is  now  the  property  of  Dr.  L.  S.  Filbert,  and  he  has  improved  its  drive- 
ways and  put  the  farm  in  good  condition. 


26 


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FOX  CHASE.  405 

F.  A.  Godwin,  a  Philadelphia  merchant,  purchased  this  place  from  William 
Wilberforce  Wistar,  about  twenty-six  years  ago.  After  the  death  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Godwin,  it  was  sold  to  Dr.  Filbert,  about  two  years  ago.  The  deeds 
date  back  to  William  Penn.     The  farm  contains  over  one  hundred  acres. 

Dr.  Ludwig  Spang  Filbert  was  born  in  Berks  County,  Pennsylvania,  March 
12th,  1825.  He  was  the  son  of  John  Filbert,  and  his  mother's  maiden  name 
was  Spang.  The  Filbert  and  Spang  families  were  prominent  in  Berks  County 
for  many  generations.  Peter  Filbert,  an  uncle  of  Dr.  Filbert,  was  the  first 
Mayor  of  Reading,  Pa. 

The  Doctor  is  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  has  be^n 
successful  in  the  practice  of  medicine,  having  exercised  his  profession  in 
Columbia,  Pa.  He  was  appointed  Lazaretto  Physician  by  Governor  Packer, 
and  remained  in  Philadelphia  after  closing  his  duties  there,  continuing  in 
practice  until  1870.  He  then  organized  the  Vulcanite  Paving  Company, 
which  he  has  conducted  successfully  ever  since,  having  thus  achieved  a 
double  success — both  in  the  medical  and  the  business  world.  He  has  been 
useful  as  an  inventor,  and  as  a  contractor  he  has  laid  the  best  pavements  that 
modern  science  and  mechanical  skill  have  devised.  Such  work  is  very  useful 
in  a  great  city,  and  such  a  man  is  a  public  benefactor. 

The  Doctor  purchased  Hilton  as  a  country-seat  for  summer  residence  in 
1888.  His  son,  Richard  Y.  Filbert,  General  Manager  of  the  Vulcanite  Paving 
Company,  also  resides  here. 

The  excellent  barns  and  fences  show  good  husbandry,  while  the  coming  of 
this  active  man  into  a  country  district  has  stir-red  highway  improvement. 

[Communicated.]       . 

HILTON,  BIRWOOD  AND  STANLEY. 

Hilton  and  Birwood  were  both  purchased  by  Thomas  Wistar  in  1790,  and 
Stanley  (Red  Bridge)  shortly  afterwards.  Thomas  Wistar  built  Hilton  Plouse 
and  planted  all  the  trees  near  the  house  and  on  the  grounds.  He  lived  there 
habitually  during  the  summer  for  considerably  more  than  half  a  century, 
except  during  the  prevalence  of  the  yellow  fever  in  1793,  when  he  sent  his 
wife  and  children  to  her  father's,  Richard  Wain,  of  Walnford,  near  Cross- 
wicks,  New  Jersey,  he  himself  remaining  in  the  city,  where  he  was  Treasurer 
of  the  Public  Committee  of  Safety,  and  pledged  his  own  credit  by  bond  to  the 
Bank  of  North  America  for  the  funds  needed  by  the  Committee,  the  City 
Authorities  having  left  town.  A  number  of  the  Committee  died  of  the  fever. 
Thomas  Wistar  1st  had  it  severely,  but  recovered. 

The  original  Bond  given  by  him  to  the  Bank  for  an  advance  of  funds  to 
the  Committee,  and  also  the  engrossed  certificate  of  the  thanks  of  the  city 
and  inhabitants,  given  him  by  order  of  a  public  meeting  held  in  the  State 
House  yard  in  1794,  the  Governor  of  the  State  presiding,  is  now  in  possession 
of  General  Isaac  J.  Wistar,  his  grandson. 


406  FOX  CHASE. 

Thomas  Wistar  conveyed  to  his  son,  Caspar  Wistar,  Hilton  and  Birwood 
about  1846.  He  also  conveyed  or  bequeathed  Stanley  to  his  eldest  son, 
Thomas  Wistar,  Junior,  who  in  turn  built  the  lower  house,  in  front  of  his 
own,  for  his  son,  Thomas  Wistar  3d.  Between  1800  and  1830  Birwood  was " 
used  as  a  summer  residence  by  Roberts  Vaux,  whose  wife  was  Margaret,  sec- 
ond daughter  of  Thomas  Wistar  1st. 

From  June,  1830  to  1846  it  was  occupied  by  Joseph  Wistar,  and  afterward 
rented  to  various  persons.  It  was  bequeathed  by  Caspar  Wistar  to  his  daugh- 
ter Lydia,  who  sold  it  twenty  years  ago  to  Mr.  Newbold. 

Hilton  was  conveyed  by  Caspar  to  his  son  William  Wilberforce,  about  the 
year  1860.  The  latter  died  in  1866,  when  the  place  was  sold  by  the  executors 
to  Mr.  Godwin. 

Thomas  Wistar,  Jr.'s  two  children,  a  son  and  daughter,  both  died  before  he 
did,  and  Stanley  was  also  sold. 

Opposite  the  gate  of  Stanley  stood  a  little  story  and  a  half  stone  house,  said 
to  have  been  once  occupied  by  Alexander  Wilson,  the  ornithologist.  It  has 
lately  been  demolished. 

DUDLEY  FARM. 

A  farm  of  over  one  hundred  acres  surrounds  the  comfortable  mansion  of 
Francis  C.  Benson. 

The  rolling  character  of  the  ground  gives  remarkably  fine  views  from  the 
ample  piazza,  which  is  a  modern  addition  to  the  house. 

The  stone  dwelling  was  the  property  of  Captain  Boyd,  but  it  has  been  much 
enlarged  and  altered  by  Mr.  Benson. 

A  family  of  Friends  by  the  name  of  Walton  owned  this  place,  and  Cap- 
tain Stokes  Boyd  purchased  the  farm,  and  Mr.  Frank  Benson  bought  the 
place  of  him. 

There  is  a  pleasant  house  and  wide  lawn.  The  property  lies  opposite  Ury 
House.  Mrs.  Benson  is  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Godwin,  who  formerly  owned 
Hilton  and  resided  there. 

[Communicated.] 

URY  HOUSE 

Is  situated  upon  the  Pine  Road,  on  the  hill  crest  of  the  divide  between  the 
Pennypack  and  the  Tacony  Creek  waters.  This  venerable  mansion,  antedat- 
ing Penn's  time,  surrounded  by  an  estate  of  one  hundred  acres,  was  pur- 
chased by  Miers  Fisher  from  the  Taylor  family  at  the  close  of  the  War  of 
Independence. 

Originally  a  fort  built  by  Swedish  Refugees  in  1645,  it  was  enlarged  both 
by  the  Taylors  and  Miers  Fisher,  who  bought  the  place  in  1790.  The  great 
antiquity  of  this  mansion  is  shown  by  its  construction  and  architecture.   Two 


Mrs.  JANE  CRAWFORD. 


FOX  CHASE.  409 

old  chimney  back  plates  of  iron,  one  ornamented  with  the  English  coat-of- 
arms  and  the  legend  "  Dieu  et  mon  Droit"  and  the  other  with  a  plain  scroll 
bearing  the  date  of  1728  are  objects  of  interest  to  the  antiquarian.  The  lat- 
ter plate  was  not  taken  from  the  oldest  part  of  the  mansion.  A  plate  similar 
to  this  is  in  Governor  Keith's  house. 

The  approach  to  Ury  House  is  by  a  broad  avenue  four  hundred  feet  in 
length,  of  venerable  pines  upward  of  one  hundred  years  of  age.  The  visitor 
enters  through  a  pillared  porch  and  broad  low  hall  with  heavy  rafters,  which 
is  heated  by  a  large  open  fireplace  surmounted  by  a  mantelpiece  of  antique 
design. 

There  remained  a  square  stone  tower,  built,  as  has  been  testified  by  com- 
parison, of  stone  quarried  close  by.  This  tower  consisted  of  a  curious  cellar, 
approached  by  solid  stone  steps  leading  to  a  door  of  wrought  iron,  supported 
on  either  side  by  tremendous  stone  drillings.  Over  the  cellar  was  a  square 
room,  from  which  a  steep  stairway  led  to  another,  and  over  it,  with  sloping 
roofs  and  reached  by  a  very  rickety  ladder,  was  a  garret. 

It  is  supposed  that  this  tower  was  built  by  those  Swedes  who  sailed  up  the 
Pennypack,  and  was  used  as  a  sort  of  fort  and  government  house,  the  people  liv- 
ing in  huts  scattered  about  in  the  forest,  and  only  coming  into  the  fort  in  case 
of  an  attack  from  the  neighboring  Indians. 

George  Washington  is  said  to  have  dined  in  the  old  hall. 

Miers  Fisher  gave  Ury  its  name,  from  the  country-seat  of  Barclay,  the 
famous  Scotch  Friend  and  tjie  author  of  The  Apology — "  Urie  "  or  "  Uri,"  in 
Scotland. 

About  ninety  years  ago  Mr,  Fisher  was  visited  by  the  daughter  of  an  emi- 
nent minister.  She  thus  described  her  drive  from  Philadelphia :  "  We  drove 
through  forests  from  Spring  Garden  Street  to  Fox  Chase,  which  consisted  of  a 
log  tavern  with  an  English  sign,  on  which  was  painted  a  picture  of  mounted 
huntsmen  in  red  coats,  and  Nathan  Hicks,  the  proprietor,  holding  up  the 
foxes  that  the  hounds  had  killed." 

Mr.  Miller,  who  bought  "  Ury  "  in  1800,  is  said  to  have  planted  the  avenue 
of  pine  trees. 

Mr.  West  became  owner  of  "  Ury  "  eight  years  later,  and  finally  in  1842 
Mr.  Stephen  R.  Crawford  bought  "  Ury  "  of  Dr.  D.  R.  Holmes. 

In  the  following  year  "  they  "  were  visited  by  a  queer  old  woman,  who 
arrived  in  a  very  old-fashioned  chaise.  She  said  she  was  ninety  years  old  and 
a  grand-daughter  of  the  Mr.  Taylor  whose  name  first  appears  on  "  Ury's " 
title-deeds.  She  had  come  to  drink  a  cup  of  tea  in  the  old  Swede  Hall,  where 
she  was  born.  This  old  woman  told  Mrs.  Crawford  that  when  she  was  a  little 
girl  ten  years  old,  Ury  was  the  center  of  an  immense  peach-orchard,  with 
cows  feeding  up  to  the  very  doors  of  the  house. 

The  mansion  is  surrounded  by  spacious  lawns  and  a  grove  of  noble  trees  of 
great  girth-  and  towering  height;  while  an  old-fashioned  garden,  with  its 
numerous  beds  bordered  by  boxwood  hedges,  is  most  attractive. 


410  FOX  CHASE. 

Mrs.  Jane  Crawford,  whose  name  is  so  intimately  associated  with  Ury 
House,  and  whom  many  who  read  this  article  will  recall  with  loving  and 
grateful  remembrance,  was  born  in  Edinburgh,  Scotland,  and  came  to  this 
country  in  1841.  After  her  husband's  financial  reverses  and  death  in  1863, 
Mrs.  Crawford  devoted  her  life  to  the  instruction  of  youth,  and  Ury  House 
became  an  institution  of  education,  at  w^hich  many  of  our  leading  men 
received  the  careful  training  which  fitted  them  for  their  future  responsibili- 
ties. 

Mrs.  Crawford's  rare  intellectual  attainments,  her  great  executive  ability, 
her  refinement  and  charming  grace  of  manner  eminently  fitted  her  for  her 
position  as  the  head  of  a  large  and  prosperous  school.  Only  those  who  knew 
her  well  can  appreciate  the  beauty  of  her  character,  the  gentle  firmness  and 
loving  care  with  which  she  guided  those  under  her  instruction.  After  a  suc- 
cessful existence  of  twenty-one  years,  Mrs.  Crawford  gave  up  her  school,  and 
Ury  House  passed  into  the  hands  of  her  son,  Mr.  Joseph  U.  Crawford,  an 
officer  in  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  who  now  occupies  as  a  private  residence 
the  old  mansion  in  which  he  was  born. 

It  gives  the  author  of  this  book  pleasure  to  add  a  few  words  to  this  very 
interesting  sketch  to  commemorate  his  friend, 

MRS.  JANE  CRAWFORD. 

This  estimable  lady  was  long  held  in  high  esteem  in  her  neighborhood. 

Stephen  R.  Crawford  was  President  of  St.  Andrew's  Society  and  active  in 
its  work  of  beneficence.  He  was  highly  honored  in  society,  being  a  man  of 
great  dignity  and  of  fine  appearance  and  bearing. 

After  her  husband's  death  in  1863,  Mrs.  Crawford  devoted  her  rare  talents 
to  the  founding  of  Ury  School.  The  elegant  country-seat  became  a  pleasant 
home  for  youth  by  the  charm  of  its  leading  spirit,  who  formed  it  into  a  model 
institution.  Many  leaders  in  business  life  look  back  affectionately  to  this 
happy  abode  and  its  kind  head.  She  w^as  lovely  in  character  with  gentle  firm- 
ness, and  her  queenly  grace  in  presiding  at  the  closing  exercises  must  have 
been  noticed  by  all.  Her  life  was  a  benediction,  and  is  a  blessed  memory  to 
her  friends. 

HILLCREST. 

This  is  the  appropriate  name  of  the  pleasant  abode  of  R.  T.  Martin,  near 
Ury  House.  The  view  is  very  fine  and  extensive,  as  this  is  one  of  the  highest 
points  in  this  region.     R.  G.  Kennedy  was  the  architect  of  the  house. 

Mrs.  Martin  is  the  daughter  of  the  eminent  German  physician  of  Philadel- 
phia, Dr.  Charles  Neidhard.  An  account  of  the  life  and  writings  of  this  still 
active  worker  is  given  in  "  The  Biographical  Encyclopaedia  of  Pennsylvania," 
(page  197.)  The  Doctor  studied  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  and  at 
Leipsig,  and  took  his  Doctor's  degree  at  Jena. 


FOX  CHASE.  411 

Eastern  Pennsylvania  abounds  in  hills  which  are  refreshing  and  invigorat- 
ing in  scenery.     Elizabeth  Oakes  Smith  thus  exults  in  a  hill  country  : 

"  Come  up  unto  the  hills.    The  men  of  old, 

They  of  undaunted  wills, 
Grew  jubilant  of  heart,  and  strong  and  bold. 

On  the  enduring  hills — 
********* 
And  nearer  grew  the  moon  and  midnight   star, 

And  God  Himself  more  near." 

FOX  CHASE. 

The  Fox  was  often  used  as  a  sign  in  the  old  country,  as  Garwood  &  Hot- 
ten's  History  of  Signboards  (page  168)  notes :  "  The  Huntsman  is  common  in 
the  hunting  districts."  The  Chase  Inn  in  Leamington,  England,  is  men- 
tioned on  page  361. 

In  Willis  P.  Hazard's  third  additional  volume  to  Watson's  Annals,  pub- 
lished by  Edwin  S.  Stuart,  on  page  351,  is  a  note  of  a  Philadelphia  inn : 
"  Fox-Chase  (now  occupied  by  Alderman  Cahill),  Third  Street  below  Button- 
wood." 

THE  UPPER  HOTEL— NOW  CALLED  THE  FOX  CHASE  HOTEL. 

Elijah  Hoffman  has  owned  this  property  for  the  last  twenty-four  years.  He 
resides  in  Philadelphia,  but  kept  the  hotel  for  eighteen  years.  Thomas  Mich- 
ener  succeeded  him  for  a  short  time,  and  then  Ephraim  Tomlinson  conducted 
it  for  five  years,  when  it  was  sold  to  R.  P.  Douglas,  who  now  superintends  it. 
It  is  a  large  building,  with  abundant  stabling  and  carriage  room,  and  appears 
like  an  old-fashioned  Inn. 

The  Old  Fox  Chase  Hotel  in  the  lower  part  of  the  town  is  not  now  kept  as 
a  public  house,  though  there  is  a  restaurant  there.  It  is  owned  by  Mrs.  Ram- 
sey, of  Philadelphia. 

The  upper  hotel  was  built  by  John  Blake  for  a  store ;  but  he  p-fterward  built 
a  store  where  Mr.  Charles  Tyer  now  has  his  grocery  store.  George  Blake, 
living  on  the  Verree  Road  near  School  Road,  is  a  son  of  this  gentleman. 

Joseph  H.  Nester's  feed-store  is  about  twenty  years  old.  He  was  the  first 
one  to  start  the  business. 

Samuel  R.  Tompkins  entered  the  blacksmith  business  here  thirty-two  years 
ago  and  now  continues  his  work,  though  he  was  absent  for  seven  years.  W. 
H.  Wright  wrought  in  his  place  during  this  time.  He  is  now  dead.  Joshua 
Kline  had  the  shop  before  Mr.  Tompkins. 

Near  the  Elberon  Land  Association  Mrs.  Charlotte  Conard  owns  an  old 
stone  house  next  to  the  Handy  place.  It  has  been  rebuilt.  Watson  Lukens, 
her  brother,  resides  with  her. 


412  FOX  CHASE. 

John  Lennig's  large  house,  painted  in  tasteful  colors,  with  several  acres  of 
ground  surrounding  it  and  making  a  pleasant  lawn,  was  the  property  of  Jacob 
Blake.     Mr.  Lennig  conducts  a  store  in  Ashbourne. 

The  old  house  next  above  the  new  bridge,  with  its  railed  side- way  for  pedes- 
trians over  the  railroad,  was  Thomas  Miles's  place,  where  he  made  plows. 
Mr,  Barrows  now  owns  and  resides  in  it. 

Next  above  is  William  R.  Wilson's  house,  with  a  comfortable  piazza  and  an 
ample  yard  in  front  of  it.     Mr.  Wilson  is  in  the  iron  business  in  Philadelphia. 

I  am  indebted  to  Mr,  Nester  and  Mr.  Tompkins  for  information. 

The  Stephen  farm  contained  forty-five  acres.  Henry  Albert  Stephen  has 
owned  it  for  the  past  ten  years,  having  purchased  it  of  Captain  Boyd.  Mr. 
Stephen  is  a  German  by  birth.  The  Elberon  Land  Association  purchased 
most  of  the  farm,  while  the  former  owner  retained  the  building. 

Kennedy  Crossan  and  Morris  Rossiter,  John  Miller  and  Mr.  McFarland,  Mr. 
Wilson  and  A.  D.  •Harvey  own  cottages  on  this  tract, 

Sylvania,  in  Montgomery  County  just  above  Fox  Chase,  was  a  Land  and 
Building  Associatian.  The  land  was  bought  of  the  William  Roberts'  estate 
and  comprised  about  fifty-six  acres.  The  farm-house  stands,  but  has  been 
remodeled.     William  Dettimer  owns  and  occupies  it. 

Between  Sylvania  and  the  City  Line  lies  the  Robbins  farm,  Charles  Rob- 
bins  sold  this  to  Benjamin  Hilt,  and  he  started  the  Fox  Chase  Association  and 
sold  lots.  These  two  Associations  were  merged  into  one  and  are  now  called 
Rockledge,  A  hall  was  built,  called  Rockledge  Hall,  It  is  also  a  public 
school.  William  Kurl  and  Mr.  Goble,  Mrs.  Benezet,  George  W.  Richardson, 
Andrew  F.  Getz  and  Samuel  Tompkins  have  cottages  here. 

Three  mounted  policemen  keep  watch  over  the  town.  Ellwood  Baker, 
William  Jeff'erson  and  Jesse  Roberts  are  the  guardians  of  the  peace. 

Richard  Clay  lived  several  years  in  a  modern  cottage  on  a  pleasant  emi- 
nence, and  Mrs.  Miller's  cottage  on  Hoffnagle  Street  is  near  by, 

FOX  CHASE  (BENSON  MEMORIAL)  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH, 

Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  Murphy's  valuable  book,  "  The  Presbytery  of  the  Log 
College,"  gives  a  sketch  of  the  history  of  this  church  on  pages  424-426,  which 
I  will  condense. 

The  Abington  clergy  had  preached  at  Fox  Chase  as  a  station  for  many 
years,  hoping  to  form  an  independent  congregation.  Dr.  Murphy,  long  the 
faithful  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Frankford,  had  members 
of  his  church  living  at  Fox  Chase,  and  held  services  there  occasionally  on 
the  afternoon  of  the  Lord's  Day.  In  1881  "  a  strong  desire  "  for  "  organiza- 
tion arose  among  the  people." 

"  Gustavus  Benson,  an  elder  of  the  West  Spruce  Street  Church  of  Phila- 
delphia," was  the  founder  of  this  church.  "  He  was  one  of  the  most  liberal 
givers  to  objects  of  benevolence  that  the  Philadelphia  Presbyterian  Church 


FOX  CHASE.  413 

has  ever  known.  He  was  generous,  untiring  in  work  for  Christ,  unassuming, 
whole-hearted.  He  had  become  interested  in  Fox  Chase  through  the  resi- 
dence there  of  a  son.  In  the  rooms  of  the  Board  of  Publication,  of  which 
both  were  members,  he  said  to  the  writer  (Dr.  Murphy),  while  leaving  them 
for  the  last  time,  as  it  proved,  '  You  see  to  the  gathering  of  a  congregation  in 
Fox  Chase,  and  I'll  see  that  a  church  edifice  shall  be  erected.'  Soon  after- 
ward he  was  summoned  to  the  heavenly  sanctuary.  But  the  son,  and  the 
whole  family  with  him,  inheriting  the  same  generous  spirit,  took  up  the  well- 
known  intentions  of  the  father  as  a  sacred  trust,  and  in  due  time  erected  the 
beautiful  Presbyterian  Church  which  is  the  ornament  of  the  village  of  Fox 
Chase." 

A  Sunday  School  had  been  established  and  "  preaching-services  on  the 
Lord's  Day  afternoon." 

"  The  church  was  organized  November  13,  A.  D.  1883."  On  "  February  4, 
1884,  the  Rev.  Samuel  J.  Milliken  was  installed  pastor." 

"  The  church  has  had  two  ruling  elders — Mr.  Frank  Benson,  who  gathered 
and  superintended  the  Sabbath  School,  established  the  prayer-meeting,  moved 
in  the  organization  and  took  the  lead  in  erecting  the  church  edifice,  and  Mr. 
B.  F.  Stratton." 

I  would  add  to  this  sketch  of  Dr.  Murphy  that  the  building  is  of  stone,  and 
is  a  fine  piece  of  architecture,  and  the  best  building  in  the  village,  as  a  church 
always  should  be,  as  showing  that  the  inhabitants  care  more  for  God's  glory 
than  their  own  display.  If  there  were  more  such  free  givers  as  Mr.  Benson, 
the  clergy  would  not  need  to  plead  so  incessantly  for  aid.  If  the  mind  in 
heaven  looks  back  on  earth,  what  a  delightful  thought  that  it  has  been  the 
means  of  perpetuating  worship  and  striving  to  make  a  heaven  of  this  earthly 
world. 

Mr.  Milliken,  who  served  the  parish  nearly  eight  years,  was  much  loved  by 
the  people  and  a  faithful  servant  of  Christ.  His  daughter  Elizabeth  has  been 
a  missionary  in  Japan  for  eight  years.     She  is  now  visiting  her  home. 

Mr.  Milliken  left  in  October  of  1891.  Rev.  W.  H.  Pumphrey,  of  Kansas 
City,  Kansas,  became  pastor,  being  installed  February  1st,  A.  D.  1892. 

BETHANY  BAPTIST  CHURCH— BY  JOSEPH  RHOADS. 

The  Church  is  situated  on  Rhawn  Street,  Thirty-fifth  Ward,  Philadelphia. 
Stone  structure  forty  by  sixty  feet,  with  ten  feet  basement  and  audience-room 
eighteen  feet  in  height.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  in  the  summer  of  1867. 
Union  services  were  held  in  the  house  until  October  26th,  1870,  when  the 
Bethany  Church  was  organized,  and  recognized  by  Council,  December  1st, 
1870,  with  Rev.  George  Hand  as  pastor,  whose  term  continued  for  eight  years 
and  eight  months,  resigning  August  1st,  1879 ;  Rev.  W.  H.  Paulin  succeeding 
him  September  7th,  1879,  until  June  1st,  1882.  Supplied  then  until  January 
1st,  1883,  when  A.  J.  Hughes  w^as  pastor  until  September,  1883.     Afterward 


414  FOX  CHASE. 

supplied  mostly  by  students  from  Lewisburg  until  March,  1884.  Rev.  Thomas 
Morton  was  then  a  supply  until  October.  After  a  period  of  two  months,  Rev. 
W.  B.  Tolan  was  chosen  pastor  and  continued  in  charge  until  January,  1887. 
During  his  pastorate  the  dedication  took  place  (the  main  audience-room  not 
being  finished  until  spring  of  1885),  in  December,  1885.  The  Rev.  R.  R. 
Albin  was  next  chosen  Pastor  in  March,  1887,  and  continued  until  March  1st, 
1890.  Supplies  were  continued  until  October,  when  Bro.  William  Hall  Jones 
became  Pastor  until  June  1st,  1890.  Bro.  J.  H.  Haslam  became  Pastor  July 
1st,  and  continued  until  April  24th,  1892,  when  he  closed  his  labors  with  us, 
and  was  immediately  succeeded  by  Bro.  L.  Willard  Minch,  of  Crozer  Semi- 
nary, he  being  in  charge  at  the  present  time.  The  present  officers  are :  Dea- 
cons, Jacob  Benner,  Joseph  Rhoads,  H.  K.  Pierson,  W.  F.  Sutton,  W.  G.  Ben- 
ner ;  Clerk,  Joseph  Rhoads ;  Trustees,  J.  Benner,  H.  K.  Pierson,  C.  W.  Dingee, 
M.  L.  Rossiter.  The  church  organized  with  thirty-two  constituent  members, 
all  from  old  Pennypack  except  six. 

Robert  Barnes  dwelt  in  the  stone  house  adorned  with  ivy  next  below  where 
Rev.  Mr.  Pumphrey  resides.     His  daughter  now  lives  there. 

Mr.  Morey,  who  lived  in  the  old  farm-house  lately  purchased  by  Dr.  Fil- 
bert, was  from  Yorkshire,  England,  and  was  an  excellent  farmer.  This  farm 
was  owned  by  Charles  Waterman. 

The  old  tenant-house  of  stone  next  below  Abraham  Harvey's  tin-store  was 
a  hotel  before  either  of  the  two  named,  and  was  called  the  War  House. 

Opposite  what  was  first  called  the  Fox  Chase  Hotel  is  the  store  of  A.  F. 
Burk.  This  is  an  old  stand  and  one  of  the  most  ancient  houses  in  the  village. 
William  H.  Tompkins  kept  the  store  previous  to  Mr.  Burk  and  still  previ- 
ously George  W.  Rhawn,  and  his  predecessor  was  Joseph  Miles,  and  John 
Trump  preceded  him.  This  was  the  father  of  John  Trump,  who  had  a  store 
in  Bustleton. 

Dr.  Sibbell  owns  the  old  store  building  occupied  by  Mr.  Styer. 

Rankin  Hogensack's  wheelwright-shop  is  of  old  date.  Edmund  Walton 
preceded  Mr.  Hogensack. 

Mr.  Sutton  conducts  the  saddler's  shop  owned  by  Dr.  Sibbell.  John  Stem 
preceded  him,  being  the  first  one  to  establish  the  business. 

The  Fox  Chase  Chronicle  was  for  a  time  published  by  Frank  C.  Benson  in 
a  building  on  the  Main  Street. 

Benjamin  Benner  established  a  newspaper  depot  about  two  years  ago,  in  a 
building  which  was  formerly  Jeremiah  Thatcher's  shoe-shop.  His  son  Harry 
conducts  the  business  in  another  place. 

James  C.  Davis  succeeded  his  father  in  the  blacksmithing  business. 

Mr.  Wilson  is  the  baker  of  the  village. 

Dr.  John  Sibbell  and  Dr.  Chandler  Weaver  are  the  physicians  of  the  place. 

Frederick  Godschall  and  Albert  Hellerman  have  coal-yards. 

The  Newtown  Railroad  built  a  nice  frame  depot  about  two  years  ago. 


FOX  CHASE.  415 

The  old  eight-square  stone  schoolhouse  was  torn  down  about  the  same  time. 
In  former  days  it  was  used  for  rehgious  services  alternately  by  the  Baptists,  Epis- 
copalians and  Presbyterians.  Rev.  Dr.  Buchanan,  rector  of  Trinity  Church, 
Oxford,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Steel,  of  Abington  Church,  Moretown,  used  to  officiate. 

Dr.  Weaver's  two  ancient  stone  houses  were  on  James  Comly's  farm.  The 
one  occupied  by  the  Doctor  was  built  by  Mr.  Thesing,  a  German  who  owned 
the  farm,  having  bought  of  William  L.  Paxson,  who  had  purchased  of  Mr. 
Comly,  a  relative  of  Franklin  Comly,  the  former  President  of  the  North  Penn 
Railroad.     The  other  house  mentioned  was  the  residence  of  James  Comly. 

Below  is  a  large  farm,  and  the  dwelling  is  opposite  the  point  where  the  rail- 
way crosses  the  turnpike.  The  Jeanes  family  own  this  place,  and  George 
Thornton  is  the  farmer  occupying  it.  Mr.  Eddowes  previously  owned  this 
property  and  dwelt  on  it. 

William  Livezey  has  built  a  fine  brown-stone  residence  on  Rhawn  Street. 

Thomas  Black  has  erected  a  pretty  frame  house  nearly  opposite. 

George  Rhawn's  farm  was  bought  of  Mr.  Bute.  It  was  previously  owned 
by  Harper  Nice.  Anthony  Livezey  built  the  old  mansion  and  owned  a  large 
surrounding  tract,  including  William  H.  Rhawn's  property. 

I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  George  Rhawn  for  much  useful  information  about 
this  section  and  Fox  Chase  village  here  recorded. 

Miles  Livezey  formerly  owned  the  next  farm  below  that  of  Mr.  Rhawn  on 
the  Verree  Road.  His  son  •  Edward  now  owns  it.  Next  below  is  George 
Snyder's  farm. 

George  Blake's  farm,  opposite  William  H.  Rhawn's,  was  owned  by  his  father, 
John  Blake. 

Jacob  Blake,  who  owned  the  land  now  in  possession  of  the  Blake  Land 
Association,  was  a  brother  of  George  Blake. 

George  Blake's  son  Edward  owns  and  occupies  the  place  on  the  south  cor- 
ner of  Rhawn  Street  and  the  Verree  Road. 

John  Livezey's  former  farm  contains  an  old  brick  dwelling  which  dates 
back  many  a  long  year.  It  lies  on  School  Road,  now  called  Rhawn  Street. 
In  plastering,  some  ancient  letters  were  found  on  one  of  the  beams,  which 
have  made  a  note  of  remembrance  in  the  neighborhood. 

Thomas  Nice,  son-in-law  of  Mr.  Livezey,  bought  the  property  after  the  death 
of  his  father-in-law.  James  C.  Pierson,  father  of  Henry  K.  Pierson,  next 
owned  the  place. 

Henry  R.  Pierson  bought  his  farm,  where  he  resides  opposite,  of  Joseph 
Stulb.     His  mother  lives  with  him. 

The  Livezey  farm  is  still  owned  by  the  family  and  occupied  by  Mr.  Pier- 
son's  son-in-law,  William  Leach. 

The  Edwards  estate  is  below  this  place. 

The  Potts  family,  of  Philadelphia,  have  a  summer  residence  in  a  romantic 
spot  at  the  picturesque  Seddon's  dam  where  woodland  and  water  combine  to 
please  the   eye.      There  was  a   saw-mill   and   manufactory  here  years  ago. 


416  FOX  CHASE. 

Mr.  Rafe  built  the  woolen  factory  and   saw-mill,  which  have   disappeared. 
James  Guthrie  ran  the  factory  for  Mr.  Rodman  for  a  time. 

KNOWLTON. 

This  pleasant  country-seat,  on  the  east  corner  of  Verree  Road  and  Rhawn 
Street,  was  named  after  John  Knowles,  the  great-great-grandfather  of  Mrs. 
Rhawn,  who  lies  buried  in  Oxford  Church-yard. 

The  house,  built  in  modernized  Queen  Anne  style,  was  completed  and  occu- 
pied in  1881.     The  architects  were  Furness,  Evans  &  Co. 

The  ground  was  purchased  of  the  estate  of  Isaac  Livezey. 

The  stone  was  quarried  on  the  ground. 

The  vestibule  and  hall  are  finished  in  oak,  and  the  rest  of  the  interior  of 
the  house  is  of  white  pine  wood  with  shellac  finish.  The  wide  hall  is  a  prom- 
inent feature. 

The  dwelling  is  furnished  with  open  fireplaces,  which  are  pleasant  and 
healthful  companions  in  winter. 

The  house  is  roofed  with  slate,  and  the  stable  is  built  in  corresponding  style. 
About  twelve  acres  compose  the  lawn  and  grass-plot,  and  Mr.  Rhawn  has  pur- 
chased an  additional  farm,  with  its  buildings,  adjoining  this  property,  which 
belonged  at  one  time  to  the  Blake  family. 

Mr.  Rhawn  is  the  President  of  the  National  Dank  of  the  Republic  in  Phila- 
delphia, and  of  the  American  Bankers'  Association.  He  has  shown,  great 
interest  in  the  improvement  of  country  roads  in  this  region,  and  has  issued 
a  book  on  the  subject,  entitled  ''A  Move  for  Better  Roads,"  acting  as  Chair- 
man of  a  Committee  of  Citizens  of  Philadelphia.  He  is  the  Treasurer  of  the 
National  League  for  Good  Roads. 

DIGBY. 

This  cosy  and  pleasant  old  mansion,  in  its  ample  lawn  amid  the  trees,  has 
an  inviting  look.  The  open  fireplaces  and  a  carved  wood  mantel  of  the  olden 
time  give  a  comfortable  feeling  in  winter,  and  the  crackling  wood  and  pleas- 
ant fire  recall  good  days,  when  dry  coal  heat  was  unknown,  and  the  chimney 
ventilator  did  its  useful  work.  A  hall  runs  through  the  mansion  and  an 
abundance  of  windows  in  the  old  style  gives  a  free  light. 

The  wood  carving  of  tiie  dining-room  mantel  is  a  work  of  exquisite  art, 
with  its  design  of  figures  in  high  relief  and  its  upright  columns,  and  must 
have  employed  the  carver  for  a  long  time. 

A  part  of  the  rear  of  the  house  has  been  constructed  for  much  over  a  cen- 
tury.    It  has  received  various  additions. 

The  property  dates  from  William  Penn's  day.  The  Swift  family  of  Phila- 
delphia owned  it  for  a  long  time,  and  Mr.  Marquedant,  a  French  gentleman, 
purchased  it  and  left  it  by  will  to  his  nephew,  Mr.  Burns,  the  Church  book- 


FOX  CHASE.  417 

seller  of  Philadelphia,  the  father  of  Charles  M.  Burns,  the  architect,  of  Phil- 
adelphia. 

Mr.  Edward  S.  Handy,  a  Philadelphia  merchant,  purchased  it  of  Mr.  Burns. 

The  name  Digby  was  given  by  the  Swift  family  to  commemorate  their 
friend.  Lord  Digby  of  England.  Since  the  death  of  Mr.  Handy,  the  place 
has  been  the  residence  of  Mrs.  Handy  and  her  family. 

EDWARD  SMITH  HANDY. 

"  The  Biographical  Encyclopaedia  of  Pennsylvania  of  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury "  has  a  sketch  of  Mr.  Handy's  life,  with  a  portrait.  I  will  briefly  con- 
dense the  article. 

Mr.  Handy  was  born  at  Snow  Hill,  Maryland,  January  5th,  A.  D.  1813. 
One  of  his  sisters  married  Chancellor  Bates  of  Delaware,  and  another  Gover- 
nor Saulsbury  of  the  same  State,  and  another  was  the  wife  of  Charles  C. 
Carroll,  Esq.,  of  Maryland,  and  a  fourth  married  George  H.  Martin,  of  Phila- 
delphia. Three  brothers  resided  in  Philadelphia.  Edward  was  the  father's 
executor.  He  attended  Snow  Hill  Academy,  but  went  into  his  father's  store 
when  a  lad,  and  became  a  partner  at  the  early  age  of  eighteen.  In  1834  he 
entered  into  the  hardware  business  in  Philadelphia,  keeping  up  an  interest  at 
Snow  Hill.  Goods  were  then  carried  by  wagons  to  Pittsburg,  and  "  by 
'  Hand's  Line '  of  sailing  packets  to  New  Orleans,"  and  up  the  Mississippi  by 
steamers. 

Mr.  Handy  remembered  the  row  of  Conestoga  wagons  before  "  General  Rob- 
ert Patterson's  grocery  store,  loading  for  Pittsburg."  In  summer,  goods  were 
carried  by  railroad  to  Columbia,  and  on  by  canal  to  Pittsburg. 

Mr.  Handy  was  careful  in  business  and  successful.  In  1838,  with  his  uncle, 
George  Handy,  he  "  purchased  the  large  and  handsome  store  of  Henry  Bird  & 
Co.,  on  Market  Street,  between  Third  and  Fourth."  In  1842  he  bought  his 
uncle's  interest,  and  the  firm  became  Edward  S.  Handy  &  Co.  This  enter- 
prising merchant  used  to  travel  in  winter  on  horseback  in  the  West  and  the 
Southwest.  In  1846  he  visited  England  for  business  and  recreation,  sailing  in 
the  "Susquehanna,"  of  Cope's  Line.  He  made  a  tour  on  the  Continent,  and 
sailed  the  homeward  voyage  with  Washington  Irving,  who  had  been  Ameri- 
can minister  at  Madrid.  In  1848  Mr.  Handy  sold  his  stock  to  Martin  & 
Smith,  though  still  being  "  a  special  partner." 

"In  1849  he  married  Virginia,  daughter  of  Hon.  Henry  Hunter  Bryan,  of 
Montgomer}'  County,  Tennessee,"  long  a  member  of  Congress  from  that  State, 
while  his  two  brothers  were  representatives  from  North  Carolina,  the  State  of 
his  own  birth.  It  is  not  a  common  occurrence  for  three  brothers  to  sit*  in 
Congress  at  one  time,  and  perhaps  this  is  the  only  case  on  record. 

The  children  of  this  marriage  were  "Virginia  Smith,  Alice  Smith,  Edward 
Smith  and  Harry  Hunter  Smith."     In  1855  Mr.  Handy  went  into  "business 
with  John  G.  Brenner,  as  Handy  &  Brenner,"  and  afterward  Handy,  Brenner 
27    - 


418  FOX  CHASE. 

&  Co.  In  1873  he  retired  from  business.  He  was  a  member  of  the  City- 
Council,  and  was  active  and  useful  in  the  Finance  Committee,  and  was  Presi- 
dent of  the  Philadelphia  Exchange  Company,  Director  of  the  Frankford  and 
Southwark  City  Passenger  Railway  Company,  and  of  the  Girard  National 
Bank,  and  of  the  Philadelphia  Trust,  Safe  Deposit  and  Insurance  Company. 
He  held  other  offices  of  trust,  showing  the  high  estimation  in  which  he  was 
held  by  his  fellow-citizens,  Mr.  Handy  died  October  2d,  1889,  and  is  buried 
at  Laurel  Hill. 

Nearly  opposite  Digby  is  a  brown-stone  cottage  owned  by  the  Handy  fam- 
ily and  occupied  by  Mr.  Hellerman. 

Dr.  James  Mease's  " Pictures  of  Philadelphia  in  1811,"  quoted  by  "Pen- 
man in  the  Germantown  Telegraph,  July  13,  1892,"  contains  the  following  note 
on  our  region : 

Another  "  tour  "  is  up  the  river  to  Frankford.  •  "  At  the  upper  end  of  that 
village  a  road  passes  off  from  the  turnpike  to  the  left  hand ;  pursuing  this, 
you  ride  a  few  miles,  passing  Oxford  Church ;  thence  a  short  distance  to  a 
place  called  '  the  Fox  Chase ; '  here  it  will  be  proper  to  inquire  the  most  direct 
way  past  Friends'  Meeting-house  (Abington)— near  which  is  the  cave  for  many 
years  inhabited  by  the  celebrated  Benjamin  Lay,  a  singular  but  pious  charac- 
ter— to  Jenkin  Town."  In  a  foot-note  we  are  informed  there  is  chalybeate 
water  at  Abington,  "  highly  useful  in  cases  of  pure  debility,  jaundice,  etc." 
"  Being  now  ten  miles  from  the  city,  you  may  either  return  there  or  proceed 
northwardly  four  miles  to  Willow  Grove,  where  at  Rex's  tavern  you  can  be 
well  entertained.  Here  is  also  a  fine  spring  highly  impregnated  with  iron, 
and  a  spacious  bath-house  supplied  with  the  mineral  water." 

CHELTENHAM. 

Rush  Rowland's  residence — of  blue  stone,  quarried  in  the  neighborhood — 
is  a  pleasant  and  cosy  home,  with  an  ample  yard  adorned  with  shrubbery. 
The  house  was  erected  in  1874.     Jacob  Mattis,  of  Fox  Chase,  was  the  builder. 

THE  THOMAS  ROWLAND  MANSION 

Was  purchased  by  that  gentleman  about  1833,  of  John  C.  Cresson,  who 
purchased  it  of  Judge  McKean.  Originally  there  were  one  hundred  and  fifty 
acres  in  the  property.  Colonel  Miles,  from  whom  Judge  McKean  bought  the 
place,  built  the  stone  house  which  stands  back  from  the  road,  and  the  rhodo- 
dendrons on  the  lawn  are  well-known  marks  of  beauty.  Thomas's  son  Lyn- 
ford  owns  and  occupies  the  house. 

Thomas  Rowland's  father,  Benjamin,  started  the  Shovel  Works.  He  lived 
in  the  old  house  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  with  a  pointed  roof. 

Lynford  Rowland,  Sr.,  and  Lynford  Rowland,  Jr.,  Howard  Rowland,  Rush 
Rowland  and  Edwin  S.  Rowland  constitute  the  present  firm. 


FOX  CHASE.  419 

The  farm-house  opposite  the  Works  belonged  to  the  Myers  family,  but  is  now 
the  property  of  the  Myers  Land  Association,  comprised  of  the  family. 

The  Beecher  Land  Association  has  sold  several  lots,  and  some  houses  have 
been  erected. 

The  pleasant  houses  of  Dr.  Rummell,  Rush  Rowland,  Howard  Rowland, 
Frank  Hansell  and  Charles  Dougherty  are  all  on  the  Thomas  Rowland  tract, 
which  Lynford  Rowland  bought  from  him.  The  son-in-law  of  Lynford  Row- 
land, Charles  Magarge  Levis's  house  is  opposite  that  of  Howard  Rowland. 

Albert  J.  Myers  is  the  present  post-master,  at  his  dry  goods  and  grocery 
store.   Some  old  houses  near  the  pretty  schoolhouse  speak  plainly  of  antiquity. 

Cheltenham  Hall  is  in  this  village. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  of  the  Presentation,  lately  built,  is  in  charge 
of  Rev.  John  H.  Loughran. 

WALTHAMSTOW. 

Mrs.  Wain's  pleasant  place  is  so  named  from  a  Wain  estate  in  England. 
The  old  property  opposite  St.  Paul's  (William  Welsh  Memorial)  Church,  Har- 
rowgate,  Frankford,  bore  the  same  name.  See  "  Burholme  "  in  this  volume 
concerning  other  country-places  of  the  Wains. 

Walthamstow  is  the  residence  of  Mrs.  Wain  and  Miss  Wain.  The  stone 
dwelling  is  far  back  from  the  road,  giving  a  wide  stretch  of  lawn. 

HEIDELBERG. 

Robert  Bowne  Haines  purchased  this  property  about  1850.  There  are 
about  one  hundred  acres.  Cheltenham  Nursery  has  been  conducted  by  him 
for  some  thirty  years.  The  place  was  bought  of  Amos  Jones.  The  Jones 
family  owned  considerable  land  in  this  region,  including  Carlton  Adams's 
place. 

Mrs.  Haines  is  one  of  the  Wistar  family  of  Hilton. 

The  land  in  front  of  the  house  here  is  pleasantly  undulating,  and  trees 
arranged  in  a  natural  manner  make  a  pretty  lawn. 

LIFFORD   HALL— FORMERLY  FONT  HILL. 

This  magnificent  residence  was  built  by  John  Cook,  and  was  purchased  by 
Harvey  Carlton  Adams  in  1883.     He  has  named  it  "  Lifford  Hall." 

CHELTENHAM— BY  W.  H.  MYERS. 

The  village  of  Cheltenham,  formerly  called  "  Milltown,"  is  situated  in  the 
extreme  lower  end  of  Cheltenham  Township,  Montgomery  County,  border- 


420  FOX  CHASE. 

ing  on  the  Philadelphia  County  Line.  It  is  about  two  miles  southeast  from 
the  Old  York  Road,  on  a  line  nearly  parallel  with  the  village  of  Ashbourne. 
It  contains  at  the  present  time  about  eight  hundred  inhabitants.  Its  popula- 
tion is  fast  increasing.  Nearly  one  hundred  substantial  residences  have  been 
built  during  the  past  three  years. 

The  Myers  farm,  containing  seventy  acres,  which  lies  on  the  northeast  side 
of  the  town,  has  been  divided  into  building  lots,  most  of  them  being  fifty  by 
one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  and  larger  in  size.  This  ground  is  being  rapidly 
built  upon.  The  ground,  being  high,  commands  an  excellent  view  of  the 
surrounding  country. 

The  old  Myers  mansion  and  barn  on  this  estate  is  one  of  the  ancient  land- 
marks of  this  section,  it  having  been  in  the  ownership  of  the  Myers  family 
over  one  hundred  years. 

Reuben  Myers,  father  of  the  present  owners  of  the  farm,  died  in  the  old 
mansion  about  four  years  ago,  aged  eighty-four  years,  having  been  born  there, 
as  was  his  father,  Jacob  Myers,  before  him.  The  latter  was  the  owner  of  a 
large  tract  of  land  joining  Cheltenham  Village. 

The  old  house,  barn  and  four  acres  of  land  is  now  owned  by  Thomas  Nich- 
olson, Jr.,  who  occupies  it  and  is  a  coal  operator  at  Ashbourne. 

The  owners  of  the  farm  at  present,  and  operating  it  in  company,  are  the 
children  of  the  late  Reuben  and  Margaret  Myers,  namely :  Albert  J.,  John 
A.,  Sarah  N.  and  William  H.  They  all  at  present  reside  in  or  near  the  vil- 
lage. 

Adjoining  the  village  on  the  northeast  side  is  the  Beecher  farm,  once  owned 
by  Joseph  K.  Beecher,  a  wealthy  harness-maker  of  Philadelphia.  This  farm 
was  also  at  one  time  a  part  of  the  Myers  tract,  and  was  left  by  will  to  Jacob 
Myers,  brother  of  Reuben  Myers,  both  now  deceased. 

This  farm  has  been  divided  into  building  lots  and  is  operated  by  an 
Association  known  as  the  "  Beecher  Land  Company."  It  was  organized  with 
the  following  officers : 

President — Frank  Williams,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Vice-President — Frederick  Godshall,  Fox  Chase,  Pa. 

Secretary — Joseph  W.  Hunter,  Jenkintown,  Pa. 

Treasurer — Thomas  B.  Prosser,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Solicitor — Joseph  Ball,  Frankford,  Pa. 

There  are  also  ten  directors,  several  of  whom  are  residents  of  Cheltenham 
Village. 

Quite  a  number  of  houses  have  been  built  on  this  tract.  The  streets  have 
all  been  dedicated  and  accepted  by  Cheltenham  Township,  and  are  now  pub- 
lic highways.  Nearly  all  the  lots  on  this  tract  have  been  sold  or  taken  by 
stockholders  of  the  company. 

The  business  men  of  the  village  are:  Albert  J.  Myers, General  Merchandise 
and  Post-Office ;  Daniel  Krewson,  General  Merchandise ;  E.  Ross  Engle,  Gro- 
ceries, Provisions  and  Dry  Goods  ;  Samuel  Morton,  Groceries  and  Provisions  ; 


l-^i-r  :'^: 


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FOX  CHASE.  423 

Philip  Seltzer,  Meat  and  Provisions ;  Harry  Ott,  Barber ;  James  Mclntyre, 
Coal  Dealer;  Isaac  Krewson,  Segars,  Tobacco  and  Confectionery;  W.  H. 
Myers,  Real  Estate  Broker,  Fire  Insurance  and  Conveyancing;  William  T. 
Harvey,  Blacksmith ;  William  S.  Gayde,  Builder ;  William  Lackard  &  Son, 
Florists  and  Seedmen. 

On  the  street  leading  to  the  station,  known  as  Myers  Avenue  (formerly  Mill 
Road),  several  fine  residences  have  been  built  within  the  past  four  years  on  a 
tract  of  land  that  about  twenty  years  ago  was  purchased  from  the  Hellerman 
family  by  The  "  Laflin  &  Rand  "  Powder  Company  for  the  purpose  of  locating 
a  magazine  for  storing  powder;  but  the  citizens  of  the  village,  headed  by 
Thomas  Rowland,  Sr.,  father  of  the  present  members  of  the  Rowland  shovel 
firm,  entered  an  injunction  upon  them  and  the  project  was  given  up.  The 
land  laid  unimproved  until  about  four  years  ago,  when  James  Mclntyre,  an 
enterprising  resident  of  the  village,  purchased  it  from  the  Powder  Company 
and  sold  the  larger  part  of  it  out  in  building  lots. 

The  following-named  persons  own  and  occupy  houses  on  this  tract:  Rev. 
George  Heacock,  a  retired  Methodist  Minister ;  William  H.  Myers,  Real  Estate 
Broker;  James  Good,  Shoemaker;  Misses  Hannah  and  Julia  Hellerman; 
James  Mclntyre,  Coal  Dealer;  Reuben  H.  Krewson,  Builder;  Thomas  Fisher, 
in  the  Shovel  Works ;  and  Robert  B.  Tees,  Book-keeper  for  the  Rowland  firm. 
These  residences  have  in  them  the  latest  modern  conveniences,  and  are  model 
suburban  homes. 

There  are  two  Churches  in  the  town :  the  Methodist  Episcopal,  built  in 
1830,  which  has  also  a  commodious  parsonage  and  grounds  attached,  and 
the  Roman  Catholic,  built  in  1891.  Trinity  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  is 
also  near  the  village,  on  the  southeast,  and  a  number  of  the  residents  are 
members  there. 

There  is  also  a  fine  Public  School  Building,  erected  in  1883,  at  a  cost  of  over 
eight  thousand  dollars,  on  the  site  of  one  of  the  oldest  public  school  buildings 
in  Montgomery  County.  The  school  is  known  as  the  "George  K.  Heller  " 
Public  School,  named  in  honor  of  an  old  resident  of  that  name,  wdio  served 
as  a  school  director  in  Cheltenham  District  for  thirty  consecutive  years. 

The  building  is  of  stone,  one  story  high,  with  belfry,  and  has  three  rooms, 
being  divided  into  three  divisions — primary,  secondary  and  grammar.  It  is 
conducted  by  excellent  teachers,  according  to  the  most  advanced  methods  of 
the  times.  The  whole  township  is  under  the  charge  of  a  general  superin- 
tendent or  visiting  teacher,  who  has  charge  and  oversight  of  all  the  schools. 

Scholars  from  this  school  have  a  chance  of  promotion  to  a  Township  High- 
school,  located  at  Ashbourne.  Quite  a  number  of  scholars  are  availing  them- 
selves of  this  opportunity,  and  have  the  advantage  of  a  regular  High-school 
course. 

Among  those  who  have  fine  country-seats  adjacent  to  the  village  are : 

William  B.  Gill,  Esq.,  Superintendent  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph 
Company  (on  Laurel  Avenue,  formerly  Richard  P.  Lardner's  place.) 


424  FOX  CHASE. 

Dr.  John  Rommel,  Jr.,  President  of  the  Farmers  and  Mechanics  National 
Bank  of  Philadelphia. 

Charles  A.  Dough ert}',  Esq.,  of  the  firm  of  Dougherty  Brothers. 

Henry  Carlton  Adams,  Esq. 

Thomas  Rowland,  Jr. 

Robert  B.  Haines,  Esq.,  Nurseryman  and  Florist. 

Mrs.  Wain,  wife  of  the  late  Edward  Wain,  Esq.,  Attorney-at-Law. 

Charles  M.  Levis,  Esq.,  of  the  Megargee  paper-firm,  Philadelphia. 

Lynford  Rowland,  Esq.,  Howard  Rowland,  Esq.,  Rush  Rowland,  Esq., 
Edwin  S.  Rowland,  Esq. — of  the  Rowland  Shovel  Works. 

The  new  terminus  of  the  Reading  Railroad  at  Twelfth  and  Market,  when 
completed,  will  greatly  enhance  the  value  of  property  in  and  around  Chelten- 
ham. The  distance  from  the  New  Terminal  Depot  being  only  eight  miles, 
persons  doing  business  in  the  city  will  have  easy  access  to  and  from  their 
offices  or  stores. 

At  present  there  are  thirteen  trains  each  way  running  to  Third  and  Berks 
Street  Depot,  a  distance  from  Cheltenham  of  six  miles. 

A  project  is  being  considered  to  have  the  town  lighted  by  the  electric  cur- 
rent in  the  near  future. 

BURHOLME. 

This  farm  was  owned  and  occupied  by  Mr.  McMullen,  who  sold  to  Mr.  Jor- 
dan, who  sold  in  turn  to  the  late  Wm.  Dedaker,  afterward  of  Bustleton.  Mr. 
Dedaker  sold  to  Joseph  Jeanes,  and  it  was  purchased  from  him  by  Joseph  W. 
Ryerss,  who  built  the  mansion. 

Burholme  was  the  name  of  the  English  residence  of  a  Richard  Wain.  The 
name  is  given  to  the  beautiful  Ryerss'  mansion,  near  Oxford  Church,  on  the 
Newtown  Railroad.  Robert  Wain  Ryerss,  of  this  place,  is  descended  from 
Robert  Walu  on  his  mother's  side,  and  from  Richard  Wain,  of  New  Jersey,  on 
his  father's. 

Burholme  may  well  remind  one  of  an  English  country-seat.  A  long,  grav- 
eled avenue,  lined  with  fine  trees,  leads  up  the  hill  to  the  mansion,  which  is 
built  upon  a  foundation  of  solid  rock.  From  the  piazza  the  beholder  is  struck 
with  the  delightful  view^ ;  but  the  extensive  prospect  from  the  fine  observa- 
tory on  the  top  of  the  house  exceeds  anything  which  I  have  seen  in  this  sec- 
tion of  country.  The  panorama  of  hill  and  valley  and  woodland  is  simply 
magnificent.  On  a  clear  day  the  spires  of  Philadelphia,  and  Mount  Holly 
in  New  Jersey,  are  alike  visible ;  while  the  villages  of  Fox  Chase,  Bustleton, 
Huntingdon  Valley,  Jenkintown  and  Holmesburg  lie  under  the  eye  of  the 
delighted  observer.  The  height  of  the  house,  added  to  the  height  of  the  hill, 
gives  this  extended  sweep  of  view.  This  is  the  beginning  of  the  Chelten 
Hills,  and  when  Southern  troops  were  feared,  before  the  battle  of  Gettysburg, 
stakes  were  driven  on  the  high  ground  of  this  estate  for  a  proposed  fortifica- 
tion, happily  never  to  be  erected. 


FOX  CHASE.  427 

In  the  hall  of  this  house  stand  two  large  arm-chairs  which  belonged  to 
William  Penn,  and  were  given  by  his  brother  Richard  to  a  member  of  the 
Walne  family  in  England. 

Heyheade,  in  England,  was  the  name  of  the  place  of  Nicholas  Wain. 

Chapelcroft  w^as  the  English  residence  of  Edward  Walne.  It  was  so  called 
because  it  was  a  monastic  establishment  before  the  Wain  family  purchased  it. 
The  name  is  perpetuated  in  the  residence  of  General  Pennock  Huey,  at  Bus- 
tleton,  Mrs.  Huey  having  been  a  Wistar.  The  Wains  and  the  Wistars  are 
related  to  each  other. 

TRINITY  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH,  OXFORD. 

Rev.  Dr.  Buchanan,  a  former  rector,  issued  a  book  on  the  history  of  this 
venerable  parish,  and  the  author  of  the  present  work  gave  its  history  also  in 
his  volume  entitled  "  Early  Clergy  of  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware."  He  will 
here  briefly  condense  that  sketch. 

Rev.  Thomas  Clayton,  who  died  in  1698,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Evan  Evans,  and 
Rev.  John  Thomas,  of  Christ  Church,  Philadelphia,  and  the  Sw^edish  clergy- 
man, Andreas  Rudman,  meet  us  at  the  beginning  of  the  life  of  Trinity 
Church,  and  the  history  of  Christ  Church  in  "  Early  Clergy  "  tells  more  con- 
cerning those  early  toilers  in  Christ's  vineyard.  Bishop  Perry's  Collections 
give  notes  from  the  records  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
in  Foreign  Parts  touching  the  subject,  and  showing  the  kind  care  of  the 
English  Church. 

Mr.  Humphreys  writes  of  the  faithful  missionary,  Rev.  John  Clubb,  that 
he  preached  to  various  congregations.  The  Oxford  Vestry  wrote,  saying,  **  It 
hath  pleased  Almighty  God  to  take  unto  Himself  our  loving  and  beloved 
pastor,  Mr.  John  Clubb."  The  letter  has  no  date.  Edward  Collins  and  others 
sign  it.  They  "  know  the  want  of  a  good  minister  by  sad  experience,  par- 
ticularly in  our  great  loss  in  the  decease  of  our  late  Godly  minister, 'Rev.  Mr. 
John  Clubb,  who  was  entirely  beloved  of  this  congregation ;  who  is  now,  we 
doubt  not,  entered  into  the  joy  of  his  Lord."  Exposure  in  rides  of  twenty 
miles  from  St.  David's,  Radnor,  to  Oxford,  over  "  dismal "  roads  in  winter 
appear  to  have  hastened  his  death.  The  letter  announcing  his  decease  was 
written  in  1718. 

Rev.  John  Humphreys,  of  Chester,  had  had  oversight  of  the  parish  before 
Mr.  Clubb  took  charge,  being  one  of  the  donors  of  the  Church  Paten.  He 
was  the  son  of  a  physician  in  Ireland,  and  died  in  Virginia.  Dr.  David 
Humphreys,  Secretary  of  the  Propagation  Society,  mentions  him  as  a  diligent 
and  beloved  missionary. 

Rev.  Robert  Weyman  is  marked  by  his  "  good  and  mild  management."  He 
sought  not  honor  from  man,  but  from  Christ,  the  Divine  Master.  He  held  an 
afternoon  lecture  with  "  numerous  auditory  "  at  Frankford,  in  the  house  of 
the  excellent  schoolmaster,  Mr.  Walton.     Mr.  Weyman's  work   at   Oxford, 


428  FOX  CHASE. 

Radnor,  and  St.  Thomas's  Church,  Whitemarsh,  drew  forth  the  constant  "  love 
and  confidence  of  his  increasing  flock,"  as  Rev.  James  S.  M.  Anderson  notes  in 
his  History  of  the  Colonial  English  Church.  The  first  glebe  of  the  parish, 
between  Frankford  and  Holmesburg,  now  the  Cornelius  place,  was  purchased 
in  this  rector's  day.  He  died  at  another  post  in  Christ's  service,  with  his 
armor  on.  The  day  before  his  death  he  wrote  to  the  Society,  praying  for 
God's  blessing  on  its  members.  Rev.  Edward  Vaughan  watched  his  dying 
hour,  and  sent  home  the  testimony  that  he  had  been  "a  true  and  faithful 
laborer  in  God's  vineyard."  This  dying  bed  was  "but  just  this  side  of 
heaven,"  as  Young  expresses  it,  and  he  who  taught  others  how  to  die,  exem- 
plifies his  words  in  action. 

On  St.  John's  Day,  1733,  Rev.  Alexander  Howie  succeeded  Mr.  Weyman. 
Dr.  Buchanan  describes  him  as  "  conscientious,  careful  and  good."  Roman 
Catholics,  Anabaptists  and  Quakers  came  into  the  Church  in  his  ministry  at 
Perkiomen.  The  zealous  missionary  endangered  his  life  in  riding  over  creeks 
between  Whitemarsh  and  Perkiomen.     He  went  to  the  West  Indies. 

From  1742  to  1758,  Rev.  iEneas  Ross,  son  of  Rev.  George  Ross,  of  New 
Castle,  Delaware,  was  in  charge.  He  is  noted  in  Rev.  Dr.  Sprague's  valu- 
able Annals.  He  was  ordained  in  England  in  1719.  In  1741  he  reports  the 
Baptism  of  twelve  negro  men  and  women  at  Christ  Church,  Philadelphia, 
who  were  examined  in  the  Catechism  before  the  congregation,  to  the  admira- 
tion of  the  hearers.  Nine  were  baptized  together.  He  filled  Christ  Church 
in  a  vacancy.     His  country  Sunday  services  were  generally  crowded. 

In  1758  Rev.  Hugh  Neill  had  charge  of  Oxford  mission.  Sprague's  Annals 
gives  notes  of  him  when  in  Dover,  Delaware.  His  Sunday  evening  colored 
class  there  numbered  one  hundred.  He  baptized  one  hundred  and  nine  negro 
adults  and  seventeen  of  their  children. 

In  1760  Rev.  Charles  Inglis,  afterward  Bishop  of  Nova  Scotia,  was  in  charge 
of  Dover. 

Mr.  Neill  officiated,  generally  on  summer  Sunday  evenings,  in  Germantown 
for  one  season  at  least.     He  taught  his  people  from  house  to  house. 

In  1766  Dr.  William  Smith  assumed  charge.  He  was  a  Scotchman  and 
Provost  of  the  College  of  Philadelphia.  His  life  has  been  written  by  his 
descendant,  Horace  Wemyss  Smith.  He  was  an  active  man  of  note  in  Church 
and  State.  The  College  was  merged  into  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 
Dr.  Smith  was  elected  Bishop  of  Maryland,  but  did  not  accept  the  position. 
In  1785  another  Rev.  Dr.  William  Smith,  by  a  strange  coincidence,  took 
charge  of  Oxford  and  All  Saints,  Lower  Dublin.  A  notice  of  him  is  in 
Sprague's  Annals.  He  too  was  a  Scotchman.  He  composed  the  office  of 
Institution  in  the  Prayer-Book  and  wrote  an  important  book  on  Church 
Music.  He  was  at  the  head  of  the  famous  Episcopal  Academy  at  Cheshire, 
Connecticut,  where  students  were  often  educated  for  the  ministry.  This  zeal- 
ous man  was  an  animated  extempore  speaker.  He  died  in  New  York  in  1821, 
in  his  sixty-ninth  year. 


FOX  CHASE.  429 

In  1786  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  Pilmore  succeeded  him.  I  have  sketched  his  life 
in  the  Standard  of  the  Cross  and  in  the  History  of  St.  Paul's,  Philadelphia,  in 
"  Early  Clergy."  He  was  a  man  of  wondrous  zeal,  and,  when  a  Methodist, 
travelled  largely  through  the  States  in  a  chaise,  working  as  a  powerful  evan- 
gelist. John  Neagle  painted  his  portrait,  which  may  bo  seen  at  St.  George's 
Hall,  Philadelphia,  and  at  the  rooms  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylva- 
nia. An  engraving  of  it  is  in  "  Early  Clergy,"  and  William  H.  Rhawn  has 
one  marked  with  a  note  that  William  Overington,  an  aged  vestryman  of  Trin- 
ity Church,  who  has  just  died  in  his  hundredth  year,  had  heard  him  preach 
in  his  forcible  manner.  He  was  rector  of  St.  Paul's,  Philadelphia,  and  Christ 
Church,  New  York. 

Bishop  John  Henry  Hobart,  of  New  York,  succeeds  in  this  list  of  cele- 
brated rectors.  This  strong  man  was,  as  Governor  John  A.  King  says,  trans- 
parent and  of  an  "  elevated  impetuosity."  He  was  here  but  a  short  time. 
Bishop  Hare  is  his  grandson. 

Rev.  James  Wiltbank  was  rector  from  1810  to  1816.  This  worthy  man  was 
styled  "  Parson  Wiltbank."  Rev.  Dr.  James  W.  Robins,  late  Head-Master  of 
the  Episcopal  Academy,  is  his  grandson,  and  Dr.  R.  P.  Robins  his  great-grand- 
son. 

Rev.  George  Scheetz,  father  of  Rev.  F.  B.  Scheetz,  of  Kirkwood,  Missouri, 
was  the  next  Rector.  He  was  born  m  1785,  and  ordained  by  his  friend. 
Bishop  White,  in  1816,  in  St.  Peter's  Church,  Philadelphia.  He  lived  a  short 
time  in  Bustleton,  and  also  at  Collegeville;  but  afterward  owned  and  occu- 
pied Charles  Snyder's  farm  at  Sandiford.  His  study  yet  stands  as  a  separate 
building.  Emmanuel  Church,  Holmesburg,  and  St.  Mark's,  Frankford,  were 
founded  during  his  rectorship.  For  some  time  he  held  All  Saints,  Lower 
Dublin,  with  Trinity  Church,  Oxford.  This  holy  man,  describing  the  death 
of  a  parishioner,  Mrs.  Catherine  Justice,  of  Delaware,  said  that  she  had  "gone 
to  her  everlasting  rest  in  the  sweetest  "peace."  We  may  now  apply  the  words 
to  him.  He  was  a  friend  of  the  saintly  Bishop  Lee,  of  Delaware,  and  was  in 
his  diocese  for  a  time.  The  yellow  record  books  in  Mr.  Overington's  keeping 
told  a  long  story  of  this  parish. 

We  can  but  speak  briefly  of  living  rectors.  Rev.  Dr.  Edward  Young 
Buchanan  had  a  long  and  useful  rectorship,  and-was  much  beloved  and  hon- 
ored. Rev.  R.  Bowden  Shepherd's  rectorship  was  a  successful  one.  Rev.  Henry 
Macbeth,  his  successor,  was  the  means  of  having  the  church  beautifully 
improved  by  the  designs  of  Furness,  Evans  &  Co.  May  Rev.  H.  A.  F.  Hoyt, 
who  succeeded  him,  long  serve  the  parish  as  faithfully  as  his  honored  pre- 
decessors, to  the  glory  of  God  in  Christ,  is  the  prayer  of  his  neighboring  rector, 
the  author  of  this  book. 

In  going  down  the  Second  Street  Pike  below  the  Old  Soldier  Road,  the 
growing  village  of  Lawndale,  with  its  Presbyterian  Church  and  Post-Office, 
is  passed,  and  the  Wentz  Reservoir  and  the  Young  farm,  with  its  fine  old  man- 
sion and  large  barn,  finished  in  good  old-fashioned  style.     This  place  was 


430  FOX  CHASE. 

once  the  residence  of  William  Overington's  father,  and,  after  his  death,  con- 
ducted by  himself.  Crescentville  is  soon  reached,  on  a  road  branching  on  the 
right  hand.  Here  are  factories  and  Trinity  Chapel,  an  offshoot  of  Trinity 
Church,  Oxford.  A  drive  on  the  left-hand  road  takes  one  down  the  Asylum 
Pike,  past  the  beautiful  house  and  lawn,  of  the  Whitaker  place  and  that  of 
Mr.  Nimlet,  and  other  pretty  places,  and  Mrs.  Conover's  farm,  and  the  Friend's 
Asylum,  with  its  well-kept  grounds,  to  Frankford. 


^  ^    o^'    <  ^ 


BUSTLETON 


AND 


VICINITY. 


BY 

Rev.  S.  F.  HOTCHKIN, 

1892. 


■^ — fe^* — ^-^ 


BUSTLETON. 

'  A  pleasant  vale ;  bright  fields  that  lie 
On  gentle  slopes  and  knolls  of  green. 


"Cool,  bowery  lanes,  'mong  happy  hills; 
Old  groves  that  shade  ancestral  eaves ; 
Farms  which  the  prosperous  season  fills 
With  flocks  and  fruits  and  golden  sheaves. 

"  A  holy  feeling  soothes  the  air, 

The  woodlands  stand  in  musings  sweet ; 
It  seems  as  if  the  heart  of  prayer 
In  all  this  charmed  valley  beat. 

"The  hills  are  voiced  with  sacred  speech, 
The  meadows  bloom  with  sweet  desire. 


"In  every  path  I  see  the  trace 

Of  feet  that  made  the  landscape  dear; 
In  every  flower  I  feel  the  grace 

Of  lives  that  purely  blossomed  here." 

The  above  lines  were  written  by  Rev.  Dr.  Powers,  a  former  President  of 
Griswold  College,  in  Davenport,  Iowa,  who  was  once  assistant  minister  to 
Dr.  Bowman  (afterward  Bishop  Bowman),  in  St.  John's  Church,  Lancaster,  Pa. 
An  account  of  him  may  be  found  in  my  volume,  "  Country  Clergy  of  Penn- 
sylvania," pages  159,  160.  Amenia  in  New  York  was  the  native  place  of  this 
author  and  poet,  and  the  scene  of  the  poem,  but  I  borrow  his  lines  to  describe 
the  scenery  around  Bustleton,  a  rustic  village  in  a  city,  the  rus  in  urbe  of  the 
Latins. 

The  following  articles,  running  on  through  the  account  of  Sandiford,. 
excepting  Sandiford's  life,  appeared  in  the  Germantown  Telegraph,  A.  D.  1889 
and  1890,  under  the  editorship  of  that  lover  of  local  history,  Henry  W.  Ray- 
mond, the  son  of  the  former  well-known  editor  of  the  New  York  Times.  Since 
that  date  H.  C.  Michener  has  been  associated  with  Mr.  Raymond  in  the  editor- 
ship. He  was  previously  familiar  to  the  readers  as  a  lively  and  instructive 
correspondent  of  the  paper  over  the  7iom  de  plume  "  Iron  Mask."  The  "  Mask  " 
is  removed  and  discloses  a  literary  countenance.  The  articles  are  mostly 
unchanged,  though  some  additions  and  alterations  have  been  made.  Dates 
must  be  judged  accordingly. 

The  old  tradition  as  to  the  origin  of  the  name  of  Bustleton  is  that  a  man 
who  used  to  pass  through  the  place  in  the  early  morning  observed  a  woman^ 
28  (433) 


434  BUSTLETON. 

at  or  near  the  present  R.  R.  depot;  who  was  always  at  work,  and  said  the 
village  ought  to  be  called  Bustleton,  after  "  Bustling  Bess,"  as  she  is  said  to 
have  borne  that  appellation. 

Mr.  John  Heritage,  who  died  years  ago  at  an  advanced  age,  is  reported  to 
have  kept  two  other  traditions,  to  which,  I  understand,  he  did  not  give  great 
credit.  One  was  that,  in  the  Revolutionary  AVar,  many  soldiers  passed  through 
here,  going  to  Hatboro  (Crooked  Billet),  and  so  the  town  was  bustling ;  and 
another  that  an  attempt  was  made  to  sell  lots  of  ground,  which  stirred  the 
town. 

As  Bristol  and  Byberry  bear  English  names,  and  Byberry  joins  Bustleton, 
I  have  striven  to  trace  the  name  to  an  English  source,  and  have  found  that 
Brislington,  a  suburb  of  Bristol,  resembles  it.  I  have  tried  to  trace  the  names 
of  families  in  the  Old  World  and  the  New,  by  means  of  the  Torresdale  (All 
Saints,  Lower  Dublin)  Church  record.  The  Archdeacon  of  Bristol,  Rev.  Dr. 
Norris,  brought  me  into  communication  with  Rev.  John  Lindsay,  the  rector 
of  St.  Luke's  Church,  Brislington.  By  a  coincidence  the  churches  in  each 
town  bear  the  same  name.  Mr.  Lindsay  writes  that  "  Brislington  was  for- 
merly Busselton,  and  this  name  appears  in  the  records  of  the  parish."  It  is 
in  the  diocese  of  Bath  and  Wells.  The  English  church  register  shows  the 
following  names  agreeing  with  American  ones:  Waterman,  Phillips,  Peas- 
ley,  Salter,  Fox,  Lever,  Ward,  Harding  and  Rich.  There  were  many  other 
Bristol  names  on  the  list  which  I  sent  which  were  not  in  the  church  register. 
The  residents  have  changed  greatly  in  the  last  two  centuries.  A  photograph 
of  St.  Luke's  Church,  Brislington,  sent  me  by  the  rector,  shows  a  pretty 
church  and  tower,  with  a  graveyard,  surrounding  the  church. 

Bustleton,  in  Philadelphia,  grew  around  a  tavern  which  was  established 
before  the  Revolution.  On  February  18,  A.  D.  1768,  "  there  was  advertised  for 
sale  a  noted  tavern,  known  by  the  name  of  Busseltown,  late  the  property  of 
Robert  Greenway,  Lower  Dublin,  Philadelphia  County. — Ledger  Almanac, 
A.  D.  1881.     From  Thompson  Westcott." 

The  deeds  of  Judge  Cox's  former  place  at  Blue  Grass  spell  the  name  of  the 
town  in  the  same  manner.     This  certainly  looks  toward  the  English  origin. 

RECOLLECTIONS  OF  OLD  BUSTLETON. 

The  Hon.  John  P.  Verree,  former  member  of  Congress  and  President  of  the 
Union  League,  kindly  gave  me  the  following  reminiscences.  They  were  writ- 
ten by  him.  He  died  after  the  manuscript  was  sent  to  the  office  of  the  paper. 
He  had  long  been  a  man  of  mark  in  this  neighborhood,  where  he  spent  much 
time,  and  was  well  known  in  the  city.  He  died  in  the  house  at  Verree's 
Mills  where  he  was  born.  •  It  was  the  home  of  his  father,  James  Verree.  His 
sister,  Mrs.  Dr.  Ingham,  resides  in  it  still.     He  says : 

"  Amongst  the  many  remembrances  of  my  youth,  there  is  one  that  was 
stereotyped  upon  my  memory  and  was  the  first  incident  that  I  associated  with 


BUSTLETON.  435 

Bustleton.  I  was  quite  a  small  boy,  attending  the  school  in  the  old  school- 
house  located  upon  the  Welsh  Road,  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  from 
Bustleton.  The  foundation  walls,  or  rather  the  earth  foundation  on  which 
the  stone  walls  were  erected  (for  the  acquisitiveness  of  man,  without  much 
regard  to  the  right  of  property,  has  appropriated  all  the  stones  to  his  private 
use),  marks  the  spot  where  the  old  building  stood,  a  dilapidated  house  then 
more  than  sixty  years  ago. 

The  history  of  the  old  schoolhouse  is  only  an  illustration  of  life  and  busi- 
ness. The  land  upon  which  it  was  located  was  given  by  my  grandfather, 
James  Paiul,  a  century  and  a  half  ago,  and  money  contributed  by  the  neigh- 
bors to  erect  the  house,  and  up  to  the  period  of  my  youth  it  had  been  success- 
ful, under  the  teaching  of  Watts,  Adams  and  Burk.  About  1826  the  trustees, 
all  positive,  determined  men — of  course  not  obstinate — quarrelled  among 
themselves,  and  this  teacher,  Mr.  Burk,  and  my  father  built  a  new  school- 
house  on  a  part  of  his  farm,  the  house  where  Mr.  Batesell  now  lives,  and  taking 
the  teacher,  Mr.  Burk.  Most  of  tlie  scholars  who  attended  the  old  school 
living  nearer  to  the  new  schoolhouse  than  they  did  to  the  old  one,  of  course 
the  new  one  with  the  old  teacher  took  all  the  scholars,  and  the  old  school 
was  abandoned. 

I  cheerfully  acknowledge  the  courtesy  of  the  Recorder  of  Deeds,  Mr.  Green, 
and  Samuel  A.  Welsh,  connected  with  his  office,  in  aiding  me  in  searching 
the  ancient  deeds  as  to  original  spelling  of  Bustleton,  and  the  present  mode 
does  not  seem  to  be  the  most  ancient. 

Bustleton  was  supplied  with  good  schools  at  that  time  and  for  many  years 
previous.  The  Academy,  located  on  the  ground  of  the  present  public  school, 
was  noted  and  universally  recognized  as  among  the  best  of  its  grade.  It  had 
excellent  teachers — Hibbs,  Smith  and  others — soon  after  it  was  first  built, 
almost,  if  not  more  than  a  century  ago.  I  have  heard  my  mother  tell  an 
amusing  incident  that  occurred  when  a  hurricane  carried  away  the  steeple, 
in  which  there  was  a  bell ;  it  kept  continually  tolling  until  it  reached  the 
ground,  some  one-half  a  mile  off.  Every  expedient  was  used  at  that  period 
to  raise  money  to  build  schoolhouses,  and  this  Academy,  as  well  as  the  one  at 
Collegeville,  above  Holmesburg,  was  materially  aided  by  lottery  and  other 
similar  devices.  In  fact,  it  was  not  uncommon  to  raise  money  to  build  and 
furnish  churches  by  such  a  system. 

There  was  also  a  boarding  school  for  boys  adjoining  the  Academy,  con- 
ducted by  Mr.  John  Neville,  where  they  were  qualified  to  enter  college.  Mr. 
Neville  was  a  good  classical  scholar,  and  universally  respected  in  the  neigh- 
borhood. I  was  one  of  his  day-scholars  for  two  or  three  years.  My  daily  walk 
was  about  one  and  a  half  miles  from  my  residence  through  the  woods  in 
front  of  the  old  Pennypack  Baptist  Church,  or,  for  a  change,  by  a  path 
through  the  farms  of  Dearman  and  Tomlinson.  This  path  was  as  old  as  the 
hills,  or  as  old  as  the  oldest  living  man.     It  passed  through  their  front  yard, 


436  BUSTLETON. 

within  a  few  feet  of  their  front  doors,  and  had  been  used  from  time  immemo- 
rial by  the  resident's  of  Bustleton  going  and  returning  from  church. 

On  a  vacant  lot  on  the  road  leading  from  the  Turnpike  to  the  St.  Luke's 
school  were  the  remains  of  an  old  distillery.  It  was  or  had  been  a  three-story 
stone  building,  and  was  then  a  ruin ;  nothing  but  the  walls  were  left,  a  fire 
havmg  consumed  everything  combustible.  The  present  building  now  used 
as  the  St.  Luke's  school  has  been  enlarged ;  but  when  I  went  to  school  to  Mr. 
Neville,  over  fifty  years  ago,  there  was  a  tradition  of  the  neighborhood  that, 
at  that  building,  for  years  there  had  been  a  very  large  and  prosperous  Acad- 
emy, and  its  suspension  no  doubt  induced  Mr.  Neville  to  remove  from  Somer- 
ville,  N.  J.,  and  locate  in  Bustleton. 

Bustleton,  one  hundred  years  ago,  was  distinguished  for  the  number  of 
famous  men  in  science,  art,  religion,  statesmanship  and  manufacture. 

Pennypack  Church  is  distinguished  as  being  the  second  oldest  Baptist 
Church  in  America,  built  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  until  about  1835 
was  the  onlj'-  church  building  within  four  or  five  miles.  Byberry  Meeting, 
All  Saints  and  Oxford  Church  were  the  nearest. 

A  large  circulating  library  was  in  existence  for  many  years,  with  about 
two  thousand  volumes  of  the  best  standard  works  on  all  subjects.  Mr.  Enoch 
C.  Edwards,  the  son  of  a  distinguished  physician  of  the  village,  was  the 
librarian.  The  second  story  of  his  store,  where  the  post-office  is  now  located, 
was  the  library,  and  the  neighbors  valued  its  advantages  and  liberally  patron- 
ized it. 

The  village  was  also  distinguished  for  having  one  of  the  oldest,  if  not  the  best 
calico-printing  establishment  in  this  State  at  least.  It  was  located  on  the 
Pennypack  Creek,  adjoining  the  village,  and  was  built  and  conducted  by 
Wendell  Perkins  &  Co.  They  employed  one  hundred  or  two  hundred  men, 
and  had  four  or  five  four-horse  teams  to  transport  their  goods  to  and  from  the 
city.  They  were  successful  for  many  years,  but  other  locations  nearer  the 
market  and  improved  machinery  drove  them  out  of  the  market. 

In  addition  to  the  Academies  and  schools  located  in  Bustleton,  Dr.  Samuel 
Jones,  pastor  of  Pennypack  Church,  a  graduate  of  the  Pennsylvania  Univer- 
sity, had  a  school  or  college  for  preparing  young  men  for  the  ministry.  He 
lived  about  one  mile  from  the  village,  adjoining  the  church.  He  was  a  man 
of  high  character  and  was  much  respected.  Whilst  he  was  the  pastor  of  the 
Pennypack  Church,  he  was  active  in  starting  the  Union  College  of  Rhode 
Island,  and  was  offered  the  first  Presidency  of  that  institution  (now  Brown 
University).  John  Comly  was  partly  educated  under  his  instructions,  in  the 
classics  at  least.  John  Watts,  a  resident  of  that  neighborhood,  was  also  dis- 
tinguished as  one  of  Pennsylvania's  surveyors,  and  aided  in  running  the 
Mason  and  Dixon  Line,  and  for  two  or  three  generations  persons  of  the  same 
name  had  been  surveyors  and  schoolmasters  of  that  neighborhood. 

Mr.  Samuel  Swift,  who  lived  on  the  Turnpike  near  Bell's  Corners,  was  a 
great  student  and  extensive  farmer. 


.  BUSTLETON.  437 

James  Paul,  an  Englishman,  a  large  landed  proprietor  and  friend  of  Gal- 
loway and  Cobbett,  lived  and  died  in  this  neighborhood.  It  was  at  his  house 
that  Mr.  William  Cobbett  spent  the  most  of  his  time  when  he  w^as  in  this 
country,  and  he  named  one  of  his  sons  James  Paul  Cobbett  after  him,  and 
another  one  John  Morgan  Cobbett  after  Mr.  Paul's  partner. 

Mr.  Gallowa}'  and  Mr.  Paul  were  intensely  loyal  to  England  during  the 
Revolution.  Mr.  Galloway  returned  to  England,  and,  fortunately  for  him,  his 
large  landed  estate  was  in  the  name  of  his  wife  and  could  not  be  confiscated. 
And  my  grandfather's  attachment  to  his  family,  or  to  three  hundred  or  four 
hundred  acres  of  land,  I  do  not  know  which,  made  him  politic  at  least,  and, 
so  far  as  I  ever  heard,  he  was  loyal ;  but  it  w^as  a  terrible  trial  to  his  English 
pride.  My  grandfather  and  father,  Robert  and  James  Verree,  were  men  of 
strong,  will  and  force  of  character,  and  compeers  and  associates  with  the 
prominent  men  of  that  locality. 

The  location  of  the  present  grist-mill  at  Verree's  Mills  is  where  the  Gwins' 
mill  was,  the  oldest  mill  near  Philadelphia — older  than  the  mill  at  Holmes- 
burg,  which  was  built  about  1690.  I  have  heard  my  father  say  that,  when 
his  father  built  the  new  stone  mill,  now  all  ruined,  during  the  Revolution, 
the  remains  of  the  old  Gwins'  mill  had  to  be  removed,  and  then  looked  to 
be  a  hundred  years  old. 

Mr.  Samuel  Cox  lived  adjoining  the  village  when  I  was  a  boy,  on  a  large 
farm.     He  was  a  man  of  extensive  reading  and  a  great  student. 

Captain  George  Breck  lived  adjoining  Mr.  Cox.  He  was  the  brother  of  Mr. 
Samuel  Breck,  of  Philadelphia.  The  captain  was  the  commanding  officer  of 
a  volunteer  militia  company  of  cavalry,  fifty  to  a  hundred  in  number.  I 
think  they  were  called  the  Light-Horse  Cavalry.  The  captain  had  a  favorite 
grey  horse  of  the  Messenger  stock,  the  finest  stock  of  horses  which  had  ever 
been  imported  at  that  time;  and,  as  their  caps  were  decorated  with  white 
horse-tails,  the  members  tried  to  secure  grey  or  white  horses.  This  fact  prob- 
ably w^as  the  reason  of  their  name.  Whenever  they  paraded,  it  was  gala  day 
with  the  men  and  women,  and  especially  the  boys  in  the  village. 

Edward  Duffield,  of  Bensalen,  near  Bustleton,  was  distinguished  for  his 
knowledge  of  Science,  and  his  works  on  Motion  were  highly  appreciated.  I 
think  he  w^as  an  ancestor  of  Mrs.  Henry,  w^ho  built  your  church. 

Mr.  John  Boileau,  who  died  eight  or  ten  years  ago  about  ninety  years  old, 
was  a  prominent  character  in  the  village  who  w^as  an  associate  of  those  I 
have  named  and  recognized  by  them  all.  He  was  the  auctioneer  of  the 
neighborhood  and  known  to  everybody,  full  of  wit  and  humor,  and  availed 
himself  of  the  opportunity,  when  selling  goods  at  such  sales,  of  amusing  them 
and  getting  better  prices. ,  He  knew  everybody  and  their  business,  and  of 
course  was  valuable  as  a  directory. 

Mr.  Ralph  Sandiford,  after  whom  Sandiford  was  named,  is  not  known.  In 
fact  many  residents  never  heard  of  him.  He  was  one  of  the  earliest  Aboli- 
tionists of  this  country.     He  was  compeer  and  companion  of  Benjamin  Lay 


438  BUSTLETON. 

and  Pastorius  of  Gennantown.  I  honor  men  who  have  the  courage  of  their 
convictions,  and  to  be  an  Abolitionist,  even  in  our  time,  made  a  man  a  crazy 
fanatic,  ostracised  socially  and  politically,  by  both  Church  and  State. 

There  were  many  old  families  besides  those  I  have  mentioned,  who,  from 
modesty,  were  more  retired,  who  must  not  be  overlooked — the  Wrights,  Duf- 
fields,  Snyders,  Shearers,  Taylors,  Dungans,  etc.,  etc. 

The  Rev.  Theophilus  Harris,  who  married  the  only  child  of  Dr.  Samuel 
Jones,  the  sreat-grandfather  of  Mrs.  Dade  and  the  Misses  Henderson,  was 
quite  a  prominent  man.  He  had  graduated  in  college  before  he  came  to  this 
country,  and  was  a  Baptist  minister.  He  built  a  Baptist  Church  in  Bustleton 
and  preached  there  for  many  years. 

I  have  omitted  the  name  of  one  with  whom  I  was  personally  more  familiar 
than  any.  I  mean  Mr.  John  W.  Trump,  who  died  a  few  years  ago,  at  the 
residence  of  his  daughter,  Mrs.  E.  G.  Harrison,  of  Hulmeville.  His  father, 
John  Trump,  I  remember  as  keeping  store  in  the  tin-shop  adjoining  the  drug- 
gist. He  owned  the  property,  and  was  a  prominent  citizen,  but  simply  a 
business  man,  and  a  very  successful  one.  His  son,  John  W.  Trump,  was  the 
only  son  of  a  rich  man,  and  married  the  sister  of  Dr.  Swift,  and  socially  and 
politically  was  quite  a  prominent  man.  Dr.  Edward  Swift  was  a  well-known 
physician  in  the  village. 

Having  thus  finished  Mr.  Verree's  useful  notes,  we  resume  our  narrative. 

The  pleasant  village  of  Bustleton,  now  within  the  city  limits,  grew  around 
a  country  hotel.  It  consists  mainly  of  a  long  street  on  the  Turnpike,  which, 
however,  divides  at  the  Post-Office,  the  pike  leading  to  Frankford,  and  the 
Welsh  Road  to  Holmesburg, 

In  olden  times,  the  traveller  sought  the  Camel  Tavern,  in  Second  Street, 
between  Race  and  Arch,  west  side,  and  found  a  four-horse  coach  waiting  to 
bring  him  hitherward.  On  Saturdays  extra  coaches  ran,  and  a  lively  ride, 
inside  or  on  top,  was  pleasant  on  a  summer's  day.  On  alternate  days,  the 
Matamoras  Stage  Line  passed  through  to  Pennington,  N.  J.,  in  1832. 

In  the  early  settlement  of  the  country,  the  Welsh  from  North  Wales  and 
its  vicinity  came  down  on  horseback,  sometimes  in  a  procession  of  thirty  or 
forty  in  number,  to  bring  their  grists  to  Gwins'  Mill  at  Verreeville  and  the 
old  mill  at  Holmesburg.     Hence  came  the  name  Welsh  Road. 

Now  the  railway  train  wakes  the  town.  The  romantic  and  beautiful  Penny- 
pack,  which  skirts  the  branch  railway  for  a  short  distance,  makes  it  the  pret- 
tiest part  of  the  ride  from  the  city,  except  the  point  of  crossing  the  Schuylkill. 

A  half-century  ago  the  flour  wagons  from  Bridgetown,  and  from  Mather's 
Mill  at  Neshaminy  Falls  and  elsewhere,  used  to  enliven  the  pike ;  now  the 
stream  of  hay-wagons  and  farm-wagons  loaded  with  produce  presents  a  busy 
scene. 

The  scenery  in  this  vicinity  is  exceedingly  charming.  The  rolling  hills 
and  the  height  above  the  river  make  a  healthy  country.  The  woods  which 
skirt  the  Pennypack  afford  pleasant  walks  in  summer,  and   are  beautiful 


o 
o 


BUSTLETON.  441 

under  the  winter  snow  or  adorned  with  icy  covering.  Anciently,  a  toll-gate 
stood  in  the  center  of  the  village,  but  it  departed  some  time  before  its  keeper, 
the  aged  John  Heritage,  gave  up  his  earthly  toil. 

Bustleton  has  long  iiad  a  renown  as  a  carriage-making  town,  and  many  a 
carriage  has  the  name  of  "  Gregg,"  or  "  Heritage,"  or  "  Krewson,"  on  its  plate. 
It  was  a  pretty  sight  at  Heritage's  spring  sale  to  see  thousands  of  dollars' 
worth  of  shining  carriages  lining  the  street.  The  Bustleton  Print  Works 
were  old,  but  a  plumbago  factory  preceded  them.  The  single  arch  of  the 
bridge  on  the  pike  at  these  works  is  noted  for  its  wide  span,  while  the  water- 
fall is  very  picturesque. 

William  Cobbett  spent  much  time  with  his  special  friend,  James  Paul,  a 
farmer  who  lived  near  the  village,  and  it  is  said  that  in  yellow  fever  times 
some  of  his  sharp  printing  was  done  at  a  house  called  the  Bee  Hive,  near  the 
depot.     A  pear  tree  planted  by  Cobbett  yet  stands. 

Captain  George  Breck,  a  brother  of  Samuel  Breck,  who  owned  the  Sweet 
Brier  place  in  Fairmount  Park,  resided  in  an  old  mansion  near  the  village, 
wherQ  ancient  ])ines  still  line  the  carriage-way.  He  had  a  volunteer  troop  of 
fifty  or  more  mounted  men,  who  rode  white  or  gray  horses,  and  it  was  a  grand 
day  for  men  and  children  when  their  exercises  took  place.  His  son,  Rev.  Dr. 
Lloyd  Breck,  was  a  noted  Episcopal  missionary  and  teacher  in  Wisconsin, 
Minnesota  and  California;  while  the  good  missionary's  son,  Rev.  W.  A.  M. 
Breck,  now  continues  the  work  in  California. 

Rev.  Ebenezer  Kinnersley,  the  rival  or  peer  of  Dr.  Franklin  in  electrical 
inventions,  and  a  professor  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  lies  buried  at 
the  old  cemetery  of  Pennypack  or  Lower  Dublin  Baptist  Church,  near  this 
village. 

Judge  John  D.  Coxe,  brother  of  Tench  t^^oxe,  who  was  Commissioner  of  the 
Revenue  under  Jefferson,  had  a  country-seat,  at  Blue  Grass,  near  this  place, 
and  Judge  Rush  resided  on  the  Bustleton  Pike,  on  George  Schlosser's  former 
home,  now  John  Biddle's  farm. 

Of  late  years  new  life  has  come  into  the  old  village.  The  removal  of  Ury 
House  School,  under  Charles  H.  Strout's  care,  from  Fox  Chase  brings  young, 
bright  faces  to  our  streets.  "  St.  Luke's  School,"  as  it  is  now  styled,  worships 
in  the  beautiful  and  architectural  St.  Luke's  Episcopal  Church,  where  the 
boys  render  the  music  acceptably,  under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Kimball,  one 
of  the  teachers.     (Mr.  Tipton  has  now  succeeded  Mr.  Kimball.) 

Cottagedale,  near  the  station,  has  sold  many  lots,  while  General  Huey  offers 
his  farm  opposite  to  buyers,  and  Messrs.  Fisher  and  Marshall  have  erected 
new  buildings. 

Cottagedale  is  a  section  of  William  F.  Dedaker's  farm,  still  further  up  the 
Turnpike,  above  a  fine  new  residence  lately  built  by  John  F.  Lodge,  which 
has  a  handsome  lawn  in  front  of  it.  T.  C.  Pearson  was  the  real  estate  agent 
who  conducted  the  division  of  this  property.  A  number  of  neat  cottages  have 
sprung  up  upon  it. 


442  BUSTLETON. 

St.  Luke's  School  occupies  the  site  of  an  ancient  boarding-school,  while 
some  Philadelphians  may  remember  their  school-days  at  John  Neville's 
boarding-school,  now  the  home  of  Robert  J.  Wright,  LL.D.  Near  Pennypack 
Church,  its  former  pastor,  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Jones,  a  man  of  learning  and  high 
position,  had  formerly  a  school,  mainly  for  training  those  studying  for  the 
ministry.  In  this  school  John  Comly,  an  eminent  preacher  among  the  Friends, 
received  a  part  of  his  education,  and  those  who  date  their  beginning  of  learn- 
ing from  his  spelling-book  should  highly  regard  the  spot. 

May  the  old  order,  now  changing  into  the  new,  bring  many  more  illustri- 
ous names  to  this  old  suburban  village,  where  the  present  erection  of  build- 
ings betokens  renewed  life. 

For  years  Bustleton  dwelt  quietly,  with  but  little  to  stir  it  except  the  passing 
hay  and  farm-wagons  journeying  to  and  from  the  city,  and  they  were 
abundant.  Sometimes  a  procession  of  them  may  now  be  seen  almost  touch- 
ing each  other,  so  that  drivers  have  company  and  the  horses  are  not  lonely. 
There  is  much  exposure  in  winter  storms  and  in  night  trips  endured  by  these 
faithful  men,  who  sometimes  make  a  round  trip  of  thirty  or  forty  miles  to 
supply  Philadelphia  with  food.  When  the  factories  and  mills  along  the 
Pennypack  Creek  near  Bustleton  were  in  operation,  Saturday  evenings  would 
see  gatherings ;  but  steam  has  driven  the  creeks  aside,  and  water-power  is  less 
esteemed,  and  the  print-works  and  the  burned  grist-mill,  and  Seddon's,  and 
Slater's  and  Verree's  factories  no  longer  wake  the  country  echoes. 

The  coming  of  the  branch  railway  from  Holmesburg  Junction  to  Bustleton, 
a  distance  of  over  four  miles,  a  number  of  years  ago  made  a  temporary  stir, 
and  some  new  buildings  were  erected  in  the  upper  part  of  the  village. 

The  cutting  up  of  the  late  Squire  Joseph  M.  Banes's  property  into  building 
lots  began  improvements  of  late.  A  part  of  the  land  lay  on  the  turnpike, 
and  Joseph  D.  Marshall  built  a  beautiful  Queen  Anne  cottage  of  wood  on 
the  corner  of  Banes  Street  and  the  Pike,  while  John  Brown  erected  another 
tasteful  residence  just  above  Squire  Banes's  house. 

John  M.  Fisher  has  done  much  to  improve  the  town.  He  purchased  some 
land  of  Squire  Banes,  and  sold  a  number  of  lots  at  a  moderate  rate  to  induce 
improvement.  He  built  his  own  brown-stone  mansion  first.  This  is  an  orna- 
ment to  the  place,  with  its  modern  improvements  and  pretty,  well-kept  lawn. 
Mr.  Fisher  sold  the  lot  on  which  the  beautiful  cottage  of  the  late  Nathan 
Boileau  was  erected,  now  occupied  by  Mr.  Kirkbride  (since  purchased  and 
occupied  by  Dr.  George  Byers).  Mr.  Fisher  built  large  twin-houses  with 
brown-stone  fronts,  having  modern  improvements,  just  below  the  Boileau 
House.     Albert  Evans  and  John  Comly  have  purchased  them. 

Messrs.  Donaldson  Marshall,  Robert  Craig  and  Joseph  Ball,  as  a  syndicate, 
purchased  nine  acres  of  land  which  Mr.  Fisher  had  previously  bought  of  the 
Morgan  Dungan  estate  and  of  Edward  Foster,  the  last  portion  being  a  part  of 
the  Clark  farm.  These  gentlemen  have  sold  some  lots  on  this  section.  Sev- 
eral acres  of  the  same  tract,  including  the  grove  east  of  the  village,  were  put 


BUSTLETON.  445 

by  Mr.  Fisher  into  a  partnership  embracing  Charles  P.  Tomlinson  and  him- 
self. The  grove  was  cut  down  and  many  lots  sold,  and  several  houses  of  neat 
appearance  erected,  and  streets  laid  out  and  street  lamps  placed  on  them. 
Lying  between  that  tract  and  the  old  portion  of  the  village,  Mr.  Fisher  sold 
some  larger  lots,  on  which  several  neat  cottages  have  been  erected.  He  also 
conveyed  three  and  three-quarter  acres  of  land  to  Frederick  Schoff,  for  build- 
ing a  manufactory  of  flexible  shafting.  One  wooden  building  has  been  con- 
structed, five  hundred  feet  long,  with  a  tower  at  one  end. 

The  farm  of  the  late  Benjamin  Morgan  Dungan  was  purchased  by  General 
Pennock  Huey  and  Mr.  Fisher,  being  divided  into  two  portions.  General 
Huey  added  much  to  the  residence  of  Mr.  Dungan,  modernizing  it  with  taste. 
Its  position  back  from  the  road,  with  a  deep  and  shaded  lawn  in  front,  gives 
it  a  cosy  appearance.  The  General  has  divided  a  part  of  the  farm  into  large 
and  attractive  lots,  which  are  on  elevated  ground  and  well  suited  for  build- 
ing. This  section  is  called  "  Chapelcroft,"  from  one  of  the  Wain  estates  in 
England.     Mrs.  Huey  was  related  to  the  Wain  family. 

The  North  Twenty-third  Ward  Improvement  Association,  which  meets  in 
Union  Hall,  is  trying  to  improve  this  neighborhood,  and  deserves  great  credit 
for  its  exertions.  It  devotes  itself  to  a  better  condition  of  highways  and  out- 
ward advancement.  Rev.  T.  C.  Pearson  is  the  active  President,  and  J.  L. 
DeKalb  was  formerly  the  attentive  Secretary.  He  has  been  succeeded  by 
W.  H.  Neville.  John  Biddle  is  Treasurer.  This  is  now  called  the  Thirty-fifth 
Ward,  and  the  name  has  changed  accordingly.  May  the  Association  flourish 
and  do  much  good. 

The  pretty  yards  adorned  with  flowers,  and  the  well-painted  houses  of  this 
village  deserve  a  word  of  commendation,  for  they  add  to  its  attractiveness  and 
draw  the  notice  of  those  who  walk  or  ride  through  its  streets.  The  surround- 
ing country  is  rolling  and  beautiful,  affording  fine  walks  and  drives  on  every 
side. 

On  Joseph  D.  Marshall's  property,  the  EckleyLand  Improvement  Company 
has  laid  out  lots,  and  boards  have  been  put  up  indicating  the  names  of  streets, 
and  some  lots  have  been  sold.  The  tract  lies  along  the  Welsh  Road,  which 
leads  from  Bustleton  to  Holmesburg,  and  the  Bustleton  Branch  Railroad  runs 
along  it  on  the  other  side,  the  depot  being  upon  it.  Rev.  T.  C.  Pearson  has 
erected  a  beautiful  and  convenient  modern  architectural  brick  cottage  near 
the  depot,  on  land  bought  of  Mr.  Marshall,  and  its  gables  form  a  pretty  view 
in  the  landscape  from  various  directions. 

On  the  21st  of  January,  A.  D.  1889,  Bustleton  was  startled  in  the  early  even- 
ing by  a  cry  of  "  Fire ! "  The  drug-store  of  H.  L.  DeKalb,  near  the  depot, 
was  soon  in  flames,  and  the  long  building,  a  part  of  which  was  the  residence 
of  Dr.  Richard  Hickman,  the  former  druggist,  and  another  portion  being  the 
residence  and  tin-shop  of  Samuel  Morrison,  was  destroyed  in  a  few  hours  of 
intense  heat  and  rapid  conflagration.  This  was  on  Monday  ;  but  Mr.  DeKalb 
showed  a  spirit  of  Western  pluck,  and  by  the  next  Thursday  evening  had 


446  BUSTLETON. 

caused  a  small  wooden  building  to  be  erected,  in  which  he  then  recommenced 
business.  The  apparent  evil  has,  in  some  respects,  proved  a  benefit.  Mr. 
DeKalb  has  finished  a  two-story  dwelling,  with  a  brown-stone  front  and 
mansard  roof  of  tile,  which  adorns  the  old  site.  The  drug-store  was 
placed  in  the  front  part  of  this  building  and  a  one-story  annex  was  built  on 
the  lower  side,  for  the  use  of  the  Bank  of  North  America.  After  the 
fire  the  ruins  were  at  once  cleared  away,  and  when  the  weather  was  settled 
— about  the  first  of  April — construction  began.  Charles  L.  Krewson  bought 
a  lot  of  Dr.  Hickman,  in  the  rear  of  this  building  on  the  Welsh  Road,  and 
has  erected  there  a  pretty  modern  house  in  a  good  location. 

WILLIAM  COBBETT. 

This  noted  English  writer  on  political  subjects  sojourned  for  a  time  with 
James  Paul,  and  spent  two  or  three  summers  there.  He  worked  on  his  paper, 
entitled  "  The  Porcupine,^'  and  was  also  interested  in  the  cultivation  of  ruta- 
bagas, and  published  a  book  on  their  introduction  into  the  United  States  from 
England.  His  production  entitled  "Rushlight"  caused  some  excitement. 
Cobbett  was  working  with  the  Federalists,  while  Rawle,  who  was  in  the  dis- 
cussion, was  a  Democrat.  Mr.  James  Paul  was  a  son  of  Thomas  Paul.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends.  He  lived  in  Spencer  Tomlinson's 
former  residence,  now  Pearson  Tomlinson's,  near  Bustleton.  Thomas  Paul 
was  Cobbett's  friend  and  host.  In  a  work  by  Cobbett,  on  his  "  Residence  in 
the  United  States  "(page  75,  etc.),  under  date  March  3d,  A.  D.  1818,  it  is 
noted,  "  Went  to  Bustleton."  On  March  9th  he  takes  leave  of  his  kind  friend, 
James  Paul.  He  was  intending  to  try  to  transplant  Indian  corn  in  England. 
He  visited  Ezra  Townsend  with  Mr.  Verree  at  Byberry.  Mr.  Townsend  and 
Mr.  Verree  were  sons-in-law  of  Mr.  Paul.  Cobbett  was  pleased  with  the 
plenty  and  the  cheerfulness  of  Quakers,  among  whom  he  was.  They  were 
"  never  giggling,  and  never  in  low  spirits."  He  was  also  pleased  with  the 
young  men  who  came  to  see  "  Billy  Cobbett,"  as  he  calls  himself.  When 
William  Cobbett,  in  1799  A.  D.,  was  publishing  Porcupine's  Gazette  in  Bustle- 
ton, he  changed  it  into  pamphlet  form  and  wrote  that  "  those  who  take  it  for 
the  purpose  of  wrapping  up  snuff"  and  tobacco  have  nothing  to  do  but 
undouble  it,  and  they  will,  I  trust,  find  it  full  as  handy  as  heretofore."  The 
paper  was  published  in  Bustleton  from  August  29th  until  October.  It  is  kept 
in  bound  volumes  in  the  Ridgway  Library.  Cobbett  had  the  use  of  what  was 
called  the  Bee  Hive  House,  next  the  depot,  and  he  lived  in  it  when  he  wrote 
"  The  Rushlight."  Dr.  Rush  sued  him  and  got  judgment  against  him  for 
several  thousand  dollars.  Cobbett  was  displeased  in  Jackson's  victory.  Cob- 
bett once  lived  in  a  house  afterward  owned  by  Colonel  McLane,  in  Wilming- 
ton, Delaware.  He  taught  French  in  Wilmington  and  published  a  French 
grammar.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the  British  army,  and  in  the  East  Indies 
received  sixpence  a  day  as  wages,  but  procured  books  and  studied  at  night. 


BUSTLETON.  447 

He  came  to  this  country  in  1794.  He  aided  Henry  Pepper  in  teaching.  He 
was  "  initiated  in  political  debates  "  in  Wilmington.  In  1796  he  moved  to 
Philadelphia,  opening  a  book-store  there.  He  told  Mr.  Pepper  that  he  called 
his  paper  The  Porcupine  "  because  he  meant  to  shoot  his  quills  wherever  he 
could  catch  game."  He  afterward  became  "  a  member  of  the  British  House 
of  Commons." — (See  Miss  Elizabeth  Montgomery's  "  Reminiscences  of  Wil- 
mington," page  315.) 

JUDGE  JOHN  D.  COXE. 

A  fine  old  stone  mansion  at  Blue  Grass  station  on  the  Bustleton  Railway, 
and  not  far  from  the  village  of  Bustleton,  was  the  country-seat  of  Judge  Coxe. 
It  is  of  ample  size  and  pleasantly  located.  The  Hanley  family  owned  it  for 
several  years,  and  Joseph  D.  Marshall  has  of  late  owned  and  occupied  it,  but 
lately  sold  the  property  to  two  ladies  of  Philadelphia,  who  are  improving  the 
house  by  the  addition  of  a  piazza  and  bay-window.  The  old  order  of  things 
is  passing  away  and  the  new  is  coming  in,  so  that  ancient  houses  must  put 
on  a  new  dress  to  appear  in  modern  company. 

It  is  a  good  specimen  of  an  old-time  residence,  with  its  solid  walls  and  old- 
fashioned  woodwork  within.  A  wooden  addition  of  one  story  was  the  Judge's 
office.  We  may  suppose  the  Judge  to  have  been  a  sportsman,  as  an  aged 
woman,  now  dead,  remembered  carrying  his  game-bag  for  him  when  she  was 
a  child.  The  Judge  called  the  place  "  Eckley,"  as  that  family-name  per- 
tained to  some  of  his  relatives.  The  Judge's  name  is  among  the  inscriptions 
given  in  Mr.  Clark's  collection,  in  his  volume  of  Christ's  Church  (Philadel- 
phia) Inscriptions  on  Tombstones.  The  Judge  was  the  President  of  the  Court 
of  Common  Pleas  of  Philadelphia.  He  was  a  graduate  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  .studied  law  in  Philadelphia,  and  for  a  time  in  London. 
His  first  wife  was  Miss  Riche,  and  his  second  wife  was  Miss  Footman.  There 
were  no  children  by  the  first  marriage.  There  were  four  by  the  second.  The 
Judge's  son  Edward  was  a  lawyer  and  a  Member  of  Assembly.  (See  Christ's 
Church  Inscriptions).  There  was  another  son ;  but  both  died  in  early  life. 
His  daughter  Ann  married  James  Bordley  Ross.  The  other  daughter,  Maria, 
became  the  wife  of  John  G.  Watmough,  a  well-known  citizen  and  sheriff 
of  Philadelphia,  the  father  of  Paymaster-General  Watmough  of  the  Navy. 
Judge  Coxe's  brother  was  Tench  Coxe,  Commissioner  of  the  Revenue  of  the 
United  States  under  President  Jefferson.  In  this  antique  house  Judge  Coxe 
spent  his  summers.  His  special  friend,  Hartman  Kuhn,  had  a  country-seat 
on  the  Academy  Road,  not  far  distant.  It  is  yet  in  the  hands  of  the  family. 
The  old  rriansion  and  its  garden  and  the  fine  cattle  in  the  fields  attract  the 
passer-by. 

Sunbury  was  a  place  on  the  Neshaminy  Creek,  opposite  "  Farleigh,"  the 
Dixon  Estate,  near  Schenck's  Station,  on  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad.  This 
belonged  to  William  Coxe,  the  father  of  Tench  Coxe.   He  died  in  Burlington, 


448  BUSTLETON. 

N.  J.  The  New  Jersey  family  of  this  name  are  relatives  of  the  Pennsylvania 
family.  "  Farleigh  "  may  be  seen  from  Schenck's  Station  on  the  Nesharainy, 
on  the  upper  side,  a  little  way  up  the  creek.  The  brown  mansion  has  a  fine 
location.  Brinton  Coxe,  President  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania, 
is  a  nephew  of  Judge  John  D.  Coxe.  Judge  Coxe's  old  clock  still  does  good 
service  at  Daniel  Starkey's  house  at  Bustleton.  Judge  Coxe  bought  the  place 
styled  "  Eckley,"  of  Thomas  Green  Pollard  and  his  wife,  Ann  Pollard,  in  1796. 
William  Penn  granted  a  tract,  of  which  this  was  a  part,  to  Joseph  Fisher  in 
A.  D.  1684.  Thomas  Green  Pollard  was  a  descendant  of  Joseph  Fisher  on 
the  maternal  side. 

PEV.  EBENEZER  KINNERSLEY. 

An  article  in  the  American  Magazine,  October,  A.  D.  1758,  supposed  to  be 
written  by  the  Reverend  Provost  William  Smith,  D.D.,  states  that  the  Rev. 
Ebenezer  Kinnersley  was  "  the  chief  inventor  of  the  electrical  apparatus,  as 
well  as  author  of  a  considerable  part  of  those  discoveries  in  electricity  pub- 
lished by  Mr.  Franklin,  to  whom  he  communicated  them."  Franklin  men- 
tioned him  honorably,  though  he  did  not  carefully  distinguish  between,  their 
particular  discoveries,  which  may  have  been  thought  needless,  as  they  were 
known  to  act  in  concert.  (Dr.  George  B.  Wood's  Histor}'^  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  page  191,  Vol.  Ill,  Memoirs  of  Historical  Society  of  Pennsyl- 
vania). Franklin  acknowledged  Kinnersley's  aid  in  performing  experiments, 
but  did  not  speak  of  his  participation  in  his  discoveries  in  his  Memoirs.  (See 
account  of  Pennypack  Graveyard  in  the  present  volume.) 

ALEXANDER  EDWARDS. 

In  Isaac  Comly's  Sketches  of  Byberry  (Memoirs  of  Historical  Society  of 
Pennsylvania,  Vol.  II,  pages  196-7),  we  learn  that  Alexander  Edwards  was  a 
Justice  of  the  Peace  in  Byberry  and  an  elder  at  Pennypack  Baptist  Church. 
He  died  in  1777.  His  son  Enoch  was  designed  for  the  ministry  by  his  father, 
and  was  put  under  the  tuition  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Jones,  of  Pennypack, 
but  afterward  studied  medicine  under  Dr.  Rush,  and  practiced  in  Byberry, 
being  a  well-known  physician.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Provincial  Conference 
at  Carpenter's  Hall,  whose  resolutions  prepared  the  way  for  the  introduction 
of  a  Republican  Form  of  Government  in  Pennsylvania.  He  was  aid  to  Gen- 
eral Sterling,  and  was  accidentally  taken  by  a  party  of  British  near  Bustleton, 
in  1777,  and  carried  to  Philadelphia,  but  soon  released  on  parole.  After  the 
war  he  was  in  the  Commission  of  the  Peace,  and  an  excellent  and  useful  offi- 
cer. He  was  a  Judge,  and  in  1792  moved  from  Byberry  to  Frankford.  His 
son  Enoch  had  a  store  where  Mrs.  Brooks's  store  and  the  post-office  are  now. 
He  kept  a  circulating  library.  James  Coxe  was  an  intellectual  man  of  stand- 
ing in  the  community  in  those  days. 


29 


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BUSTLETON  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH. 


BUSTLETON.  453 

ST.  LUKE'S  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH. 

Bishop  Leighton  Coleman  of  Delaware  was  the  first  rector  of  the  Memorial 
Church  of  St.  Luke,  the  Beloved  Physician.  He  outlined  its  history  in  a  ser- 
mon in  A.  D.  1861.  Rev.  George  Scheetz,  who  was  the  faithful  rector  of 
Oxford,  used  to  hold  a  service  in  the  Old  Academy  when  he  lived  in  Bustle- 
ton.  Years  after,  the  beloved  Dr.  Beasley,  rector  of  Torresdale  (All  Saints, 
Lower  Dublin),  maintained  services,  assisted  by  the  neighboring  clergy,  Drs. 
Buchanan,  Millett,  Lundy  and  the  late  Samuel  E.  Smith  assisted  in  this  good 
work.  Dr.  Beasley  used  also  the  former  Sons  of  Temperance  Hall  for  services,  by 
the  good  will  of  Joseph  Wagner,  the  owner,  who  did  much  to  advance  the  young 
parish  with  the  aid  of  his  devoted  wife.  Services  were  also  held  in  private 
houses  and  in  Union  Hall,  where  Bishop  Coleman  first  officiated.  The  church 
lot  was  bought  of  Rev.  Theophilus  G.  Crouch,  in  July,  A.  D.  1860.  The  cor- 
ner-stone was  laid  on  Thursday,  September  20th,  A.  D.  1860,  in  the  afternoon. 
Bishop  Alonzo  Potter  was  present.  Rev.  Dr.  Buchanan  and  Rev.  Dr.  Wilmer 
(afterward  Bishop  of  Louisiana)  made  addresses,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Stevens  (after- 
ward Bishop  of  Pennsylvania)  concluded  the  services.  Upjohn  &  Son,  of 
New  York,  were  the  architects.  The  church  is  built  of  blue  stone,  and  brown 
stone  and  brick  are  used  in  trimming  the  building,  while  the  roof  is  of  slate. 
It  is  one  of  the  prettiest  churches  in  the  country,  and  is  surrounded  by  a  large 
and  beautiful  churchyard.  The  chancel  is  apsidal,  and  a  bell  gable  holds  the 
bell.  It  is  surmounted  by  a  gilded  cross,  which  proclaims  our  faith  in  the 
Crucified  One.  On  August  29th,  A.  D.  1861,  the  church  was  consecrated  by 
Bishop  Alonzo  Potter,  assisted  by  Bishop  Odenheimer  of  New  Jersey  and 
thirty  surpliced  clergy  from  various  dioceses.  Dr.  Wilmer  was  the  preacher, 
but  being  ill.  Dr.  Ducachet  read  a  part  of  his  sermon  and  the  Bishops  made 
addresses.  The  church  was  filled  so  that  many  could  not  enter.  Many 
friends  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Henry  were  present,  and  many  who  had  associations 
with  the  neighborhood.  Mrs.  Pauline  E.  Henry  built  the  church  in  memory 
of  her  husband,  Bernard  Henry,  M.  D.,  who  died  April  15th,  1860.  Mrs. 
Henry  had  some  association  with  the  neighborhood.  She  continues  her 
interest  in  the  parish.  A  memorial  church  is  a  blessed  monument,  as  it  aids 
the  living.  It  is  much  to  be  desired  that  many  such  churches  may  arise. 
The  first  vestry  were  Morton  P.  Henry,  Esq.  (Dr.  Henry's  brother).  Secretary, 
Amos  A.  Gregg,  Esq.,  Robert  J.  Henderson,  Esq.,  Charles  Tillyer,  Newberry 
A.  Smith  and  John  Trump.  On  the  10th  of  June,  A.  D,  1861,  the  vestry 
elected  the  Rev.  Mr.  Coleman,  a  Deacon  in  the  General  Theological  Seminary, 
New  York  City,  the  first  rector.  On  June  19th,  A.  D.  1861,  he  accepted  the 
call,  and  entered  on  dut}'^  on  the  first  of  July  following.  On  May  30th,  1861, 
the  parish  was  admitted  to  the  Convention  of  the  Diocese.  On  May  15th, 
1862,  the  rector  was  ordained  priest,  that  saintly  man.  Professor  Johnson,  of 
the  General  Seminary,  preaching  the  sermon.     Dr.  Coleman  resigned  Novem- 


454  BUSTLETON. 

ber  26,  1863  (Thanksgiving  Day).  In  November,  1861,  Mrs.  Henry  gave  the 
Rectory  to  the  Parish.     It  has  been  enlarged  and  improved. 

The  pretty  stone  chapel  and  Sunday-school  room  was  first  used  in  January, 
1870,  and  the  foundress  of  the  church  gave  the  larger  part  of  its  cost.  She 
has  also  enriched  the  chancel  windows  by  inserting  some  beautiful  designs 
of  ancient  stained  glass  from  Europe,  and  one  of  the  other  windows  has  an 
antique  from  La  Sainte  Chapelle,  Paris.  This  church  was  built  by  the  French 
King  Saint  Louis.  The  beautiful  west  window  is  in  memory  of  Dr.  Henry, 
and  the  brass  lectern  commemorates  her  daughter.  Miss  Conner,  and  the  brass 
altar-cross  her  father,  Mr.  Van  Der  Kemp. 

The  rectors  after  the  first  have  been  Rev.  Edmund  Roberts,  Rev.  James  H. 
Barnard,  Rev.  Henry  A.  Parker,  Rev.  Lucius  N.  Voigt  and  Rev.  S.  F.  Hotch- 
kin,  now  in  charge.  The  present  vestry  are :  Edward  Evans,  Accounting 
Warden;  Charles  H.  Strout,  Rector's  Warden  ;  Amos  A.  Browne,  William  S. 
Robinson,  Eugene  Beck  and  Robert  T.  Marshall.  The  late  Mr.  John  B.  Wil- 
lian  was  long  a  faithful  vestryman,  a  volunteer  organist  and  Sunday-school 
teacher.  His  work  was  well  done.  The  workers  die,  but  new  ones  arise  and 
the  work  advances,  and  the  abundant  labors  of  the  toilers  in  the  service  of  the 
Blessed  Master  will  not  be  "  in  vain  in  the  Lord."  1  Cor.  15, 58.  The  St.  Luke's 
School  boys  at  morning  service,  and  the  voluntary  choir  of  young  ladies  with 
Miss  Harriet  E.  Evans  as  organist,  at  the  Evening  Service,  do  good  and 
acceptable  musical  service  in  the  Lord's  House.  Miss  Clara  E.  Lodge,  Miss 
C.  Winogene  Evans  and  Miss  Nellie  Arrison  have  been  organists  in  the 
Sunday  School.  Harry  Ashton,  William  Maguire  and  Edward  Rylott  have 
been  the  sextons  during  the  present  rectorship.  William  H.  Ettinger  now 
holds  the  position. 

BUSTLETON  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH— BY  REV. 
SAMUEL  HORWELL. 

The  first  Methodist  preaching  in  Bustleton  was  by  Rev.  Mifflin  Harker  in 
the  house  of  Mr.  Daniel  Starkey,  in  the  year  1827.  Preaching  services  were 
afterward  held  in  the  Old  Academy  in  the  year  1831.  It  was  during  this 
year  that  the  first  class  was  formed,  on  the  second  of  January,  by  Rev.  Thomas 
Neal.  Mr.  Neal  was  at  this  time  preacher  in  charge  of  Bristol  Circuit,  having 
for  his  colleagues  Rev.  Martin  Hazel  and  Rev.  Richard  W.  Thomas.  The 
first  class  consisted  of  sixteen  members,  of  whom  the  late  Mr.  Daniel  Starkey 
was  the  leader. 

In  the  year  1832  a  small  building  was  secured  and  prepared  for  religious 
services.  The  seats  were  plain  slabs.  The  pulpit  was  made  of  rough,  unplaned 
boards,  all  fitted  up  and  completed  in  a  half-day  by  Mr.  Starkey  and  Marcus 
Boon.  In  this  humble  way  Methodism  made  herself  a  home  and  began  her 
work. 


BUSTLETON.  455 

111  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1832,  under  the  ministry  of  Rev.  John  Fiiiley 
and  John  Nicholson,  a  board  of  trustees  was  appointed,  consisting  of  Mr. 
Daniel  Starkey,  David  Jones,  Marcus  Boon  and  Isaac  Ashton,  who  now  began 
to  arrange  for  building  a  church.  In  the  following  year,  under  the  ministry 
of  Rev.  William  Granville  and  John  Wooliston,  the  church  was  erected  on 
the  Bustleton  Pike,  where  the  present  church  now  stands. 

In  1834  the  Sabbath-school  was  organized.  Before  any  steps  had  been 
taken  to  build,  a  Mrs.  Robinson  on  her  death-bed  left  ten  dollars  toward  a 
new  church,  and  this  was  the  first  subscription  received.  In  1835  Bustleton 
was  separated  from  the  Bristol  Circuit  and  united  with  Holmesburg,  Somerton 
and  Hatboro,  under  the  charge  of  the  Rev.  John  L.  Taft  and  M.  Sisty.  In 
1836  Hatboro  was  takeii  off,  and  Rev.  John  Lednum  and  W.  W.  McMichael 
were  the  preachers.  In  1846  Holmesburg  was  taken  off  and  Rev.  W. 
McCombs  was  appointed  preacher-in-charge.  In  1859  Somerton  was  made  a 
station,  leaving  Bustleton  to  itself,  with  Rev.  G.  T.  Hurlock  as  pastor. 

In  1866,  during  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  E.  T.  Kenney,  a  subscription  was 
opened  for  the  building  of  a  new  church,  and  in  the  year  1868  the  corner- 
stone was  laid,  Rev.  J.  M.  Wheeler  being  pastor.  The  lecture-room  was  dedi- 
cated in  1869,  Rev.  G.  T.  Hurlock  being  pastor,  and  during  his  term  the 
church  was  Completed  and  dedicated  to  the  service  of  Almighty  God.  In  the 
year  1880  Miss  Martha  James  left  by  will  th^  sum  of  one  thousand  dollars,  to 
be  used  toward  paying  the  debt  on  the  church  property,  which  amounted  to 
$3850.  She  also,  in  a  codicil  to  her  will,  desired  to  give  an  additional  thou- 
sand dollars  for  repairs.  An  effort  was  made,  October  24,  1880,  to  raise  the 
balance  of  the  debt — Rev.  Thomas  Hanlon,  D.D.,  being  present  and  preaching 
on  the  occasion — and  at  the  close  of  the  service  it  was  found  that  $4250 
(including  the  legacy  of  Miss  James)  had  been  raised.  By  the  kindness  of 
Mr.  Samuel  James,  the  trustees  also  received  the  thousand  dollars  mentioned 
in  the  codicil  for  repairs,  though  legally  they  could  not  claim  it,  as  it  was  not 
made  within  the  required  time  allowed  by  the  law. 

In  1881  the  money  was  used  as  directed,  and  the  church  building  was 
handsomely  frescoed,  repaired  and  painted,  and  all  paid  for.  The  church  has 
now  two  hundred  members  and  is  in  a  prosperous  condition. 

The  following  have  been  appointed  pastors :  John  L.  R.  Taft,  M.  H.  Sisty, 
William  Williams,  John  Lednum,  AV.  W.  McMichael,  R.  W.  Thomas,  John 
Lee,  Charles  Karsner,  John  Walsh,  James  Cunningham,  William  McCombs, 
William  Bishop,  J.  M.  Macaskey,  E.  F.  Crouch,  R.  M.  Greenbank,  John 
Shields,  John  A.  Watson,  G.  T.  Hurlock,  J.  Humphries,  W.  B.  Wood,  E.  T. 
Kenney,  J.  M.  Wheeler,  H.  F.  Scott,  Samuel  R.  Gillingham,  Wilmer  Coffman, 
Matthew  Sorin,  D.D.,  Fennel  Coombe,  Thomas  C.  Pearson,  Nathan  B.  Durell, 
Samuel  Horwell.  I  add  to  Mr.  Horwell's  sketch  that  the  Rev.  Andrew  J. 
Amthor  is  the  present  faithful  pastor.  The  parish  has  lately  used  a  legacy 
of  the  late  Robert  J.  Wright,  LL.D.,  with  much  additional  funds  raised  by 
themselves,  to  renovate  and  beautify  the  interior  of  the  building,  and  new 
peWS  and  stained-glass  windows  have  been  a  part  of  this  renovation. 


456  BUSTLETON. 

Sunday-school  Superintendent :  Frederick  Stock. 

Trustees :  John  Biddle,  President ;  Edward  Foster,  Secretarj' ;  Benjamin  S. 
Saul,  Treasurer ;  William  F.  Dedaker,  Robert  Nichols,  Henry  Lees,  John  T. 
Dungan,  Isaac  Wells,  T.  C.  Pearson. 

Class  Leaders :  Arthur  Abbott  and  Samuel  C.  Stark ey. 

Stewards:  Edward  Foster,  Samuel  C.  Starkey,  Arthur  Abbott,  Charles 
Dewees,  Reuben  Wilkins,  Henry  Lees,  John  L.  DeKalb,  Frederick  J.  Stock, 
Rush  Taylor,  John  T.  Dungan,  John  French,  John  Biddle. 

Sexton :  John  Oscar  McMullen.     He  has  held  the  office  many  years. 

Hazlehurst  &  Huckel,  of  Philadelphia,  designed  the  tower  of  this  church, 
erected  several  years  ago.  The  gallery  was  remodeled  and  the  church  was 
newly  carpeted  throughout  in  the  recent  improvements. 

LOWER  DUBLIN  BAPTIST  CHURCH. 

This  church,  the  mother-church  of  all  the  Baptist  Churches  of  Pennsylva- 
nia and  adjacent  States,  was  founded  in  January,  1688.  Three  years  prior  to 
this,  several  members  of  the  Church  at  Dolan,  Wales,  with  their  families, 
sailed  for  Penn's  colony,  then  but  a  clearing  in  the  head  of  the  forest.  Arriv- 
ing here,  they  settled  on  the  banks  of  the  Pennypack  Creek.  Early  in  1687 
the  Rev.  Elias  Keach  devoted  himself  to  the  work  of  the  ministry  at  Penny- 
pack.  His  administrations  met  with  success,  and  on  November  21,  1687,  the 
first  baptisms  in  Philadelphia  took  place  in  the  Creek,  those  immersed  being 
Joseph  and  Jane  Ashton,  William  Fisher  and  John  Watts.  In  the  following 
January  the  Lower  Dublin  Church,  which  to-day  occupies  an  historical  posi- 
tion as  the  first  organization  in  the  State  of  what  is  now  the  second  largest 
Protestant  denomination  in  America,  was  organized.  The  twelve  members, 
according  to  the  old  archives,  were  Rev.  Elias  Keach,  John  Eaton,  George 
Eaton  and  Jane,  his  wife,  Sarah  Eaton,  Samuel  Jones,  John  Baker,  Samuel 
Vans,  Joseph  Ashton  and  Jane,  his  wife,  William  Fisher  and  John  Watts. 

The  first  pastor  travelled  considerably  through  the  surrounding  country  on 
horseback,  preaching,  baptizing  converts  and  organizing  new  churches.  At 
one  time  all  of  the  Baptists  in  Philadelphia  and  surrounding  Counties  and 
the  State  of  New  Jersey  considered  themselves  as  part  of  the  membership  of 
this  pastor's  flock.  After  Mr.  Keach  came  John  Watts.  By  1700  the  mem- 
bership had  increased  to  forty-nine.  Mr.  Watts  continued  in  the  pastorate 
until  his  death,  August  27th,  1702.  His  successor.  Rev.  Evan  Morgan,  was 
originally  a  Quaker.  He  ministered  to  the  church  until  his  death,  February 
16,  1709.  During  his  pastorate,  in  1707,  when  the  membership  had  increased 
to  eighty-eight,  the  first  church  edifice  was  erected,  on  a  lot  of  ground  on  the 
Krewstown  Road,  near  Bustleton,  afterward  deeded  to  the  church  by.  Rev. 
Samuel  Jones.  Until  then  the  services  had  been  held  at  the  houses  of  the 
different  members.  It  was  a  rough  stone  building  twenty-five  feet  square, 
and  served  the  church  for  nearly  seventy  years.     The  succession  of  ministers 


'      BUSTLETON.  457 

was  as  follows :  Samuel  Jones,  October  23,  1706  to  February  3,  1722  ;  Joseph 
Wood,  September  25,  1708,  to  September  5,  1747 ;  Abel  Morgan,  February  14, 
1711,  to  December  16,  1722  ;  Jenkin  Jones,  June  17,  1726,  to  May  3,  1746 ; 
Peter  Vanhorne,  October  31,  1747,  to  February  7,  1762;  Samuel  Jones,  I).  D., 
January  1,1763,  to  February  7,1814;  Jacob  Grigg,  December  7,  1815,  to 
September  1,1817;  Joshua  P.  Slack,  September  1,  1817,  to  October,  1821 ; 
David  Jones,  Jr.,  January  1,  1822,  to  April  9,  1833 ;  James  M.  Challis,  March 
31,  1838,  to  April  1,  1845 ;  Thomas  Roberts,  August  3,  1845,  to  April  1,  1847 ; 
Richard  Lewis,  April  27,  1847,  to  April  25,  1852;  William  Hutchinson, 
December  15,  1852,  to  December,  1856;  Alfred  Harris,  March  16,  1857,  to 
March,  1860 ;  George  Kempton,  D.D.,  October  7,  1860,  to  April  1,  1865 ;  Wil- 
liam E.  Cornwell,  March  18,  1866,  to  October,  1880 ;  Rev.  Charles  Warwick, 
the  present  incumbent,  was  installed  on  February  1,  1881.  Under  his  admin- 
istrations the  church  has  prospered,  over  one  hundred  persons  having  since 
united  with  it. 

In  1770  the  old  building  was  torn  down  and  replaced  by  another  more 
commodious  stone  edifice,  thirty  by  thirty-three  feet,  which  the  church  chron- 
icler quaintly  describes  as  having  "pews,  galleries  and  a  stove,  which  latter 
accommodation  was  not  to  be  found  in  all  the  meeting-houses."  In  1805  the 
present  structure  was  erected.  It  is  built  of  rough  stone,  quarried  near 
by.  In  the  yard  Rev.  John  Watts  and  other  pastors  are  buried,  with  many  of 
the  first  settlers  of  Philadelphia.  The  older  tombstones  all  face  the  rising 
sun,  in  accordance  with  the  old  belief  that  the  dead  should  be  laid  so  that  at 
the  resurrection  they  would  rise  with  their  countenances  toward  the  East,  the 
direction  from  which  Christ  is  to  come. 

The  old  church  is  closed  now,  except  on  special  occasions.  In  the  early 
part  of  1885  it  was  decided  to  build  a  new  church  of  Trenton  brownstone  in 
a  central  location  at  Bustleton.  On  June  15  the  corner-stone  was  laid,  and  on 
June  27,  1886,  the  lower  portion  was  opened  for  Sunday-school  purposes.  On 
November  28,  1886,  the  last  sermon  was  preached  in  the  old  sanctuary,  and 
on  the  following  Sunday  the  congregation  took  possession  of  the  beautiful 
new  church.  It  is  here  that,  on  January  11  and  12,  1888,  the  bi-centennial 
services  were  held.  . 

The  above  description  of  the  Baptist  Church  is  condensed  from  a  Philadel- 
phia paper. 

The  Hon.  Horatio  Gates  Jones  has  written  its  history.  Hazlehurst  &  Huc- 
kel  were  the  architects  of  the  new  building.  Its  erection  is  largely  due  to  the 
patient  work  of  its  present  pastor.  I  add  a  list  of  the  Officers  of  the  Church. 
— Deacons  Enoch,  W.  Taylor,  Jahn  Blake,  Charles  C.  Wilson,  Kennard  H. 
Dungan ;  Church  Clerk,  Charles  Green ;  Trustees,  T.  Miles  Brous,  President, 
Jesse  W.  Roberts,  Secretary,  Jamison  Lott,  Sr.,  William  Cottman,  George 
Blake,  Daniel  Unruh,  Henry  Humphreys,  Charles  C.  Wilson,  Charles  Warwick. 


458  BUSTLETON. 

BYBERRY  MEETING. 

A  little  above  Bustleton  is  historic  old  Byberry  Friends'  Meeting  House, 
and  we  cannot  refrain  from  quoting  some  lines  concerning  it  by  one  who  has 
now  ended  her  earthly  work  for  God. 

Mrs.  Rachel  W.  Shallcross,  a  poetess  and  prose  writer  of  Byberry,  read  a 
poem  at  the  First-Day  School  anniversary,  in  Byberry  Meeting  House,  A.  D. 
1881,  from  which  we  extract  the  following  lines : 

''Scores  of  years  this  house  has  stood, 

And,  like  a  sentinel  bold, 
It  has  marked  the  fitful  course  of  lives,. 

It  has  seen  the  young  grow  old. 
******** 

"  'Neath  its  whited  roof  a  restful  peace 

Hath  come  to  you  and  me. 
And  the  lives  begun  and  ended 

In  reach  of  its  weekly  calls. 
Who  peacefully  rest  in  its  shadow, 

Speak  in  those  old  stone  walls. 

"  And    may  the  little  children  here 

Be  drawn  in  simple  love 
To  hear  the  mission  God  hath  sent 

To  each  one  from  above." 

The  Byberry  Friends'  Library,  in  the  same  yard  with  the  Meeting  House, 
is  a  pleasant  place  to  visit,  with  its  books  and  natural  curiosities.  Nathaniel 
Richardson,  a  literary  man  and  a  preacher  among  the  Friends,  is  the  Secre- 
tary.    There  are  many  useful  volumes  here. 

"  The  Church  of  the  Maternity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  is  at  Bustleton. 
The  corner-stone  was  laid  October  2,  1870,  by  Bishop  Wood.  The  ground 
was  presented  by  John  B.  Willian.  On  December  11,  1870,  it  was  opened  for 
divine  service  by  Rev.  John  McGovern,  pastor  of  St.  Joachim's  Church  at 
Frankford.  It  is  forty  by  seventy  feet,  and  cost  $5500.  Its  pastors  have  been 
Revs.  J.  F.  Kelly  (died  May  14,  1871),  John  Loughran,  J.  Ward,  H.  Garvey, 
J.  O'Byrne,  M.  J.  Armstrong,  James  A.  Brehony,  M.  P.  O'Brien,  D.  S.  Bowes, 
B.  J.  Conway  and  Rev.  A.  P.  Haviland,  the  present  rector." 

The  above  is  taken  from  Scharf  &  Westcott's  History  of  Philadelphia. 
Father  O'Brien  went  from  here  to  New  Philadelphia,  Pa. ;  Father  Bowes  is 
dead  ;  Father  Haviland,  a  self-denying  and  faithful  priest,  is  also  dead. 
Father  Maginn  succeeded  him,  but  has  taken  a  parish  in  the  built-up  portion 
of  the  city.  The  parish  was  afterwards  served  at  stated  intervals  from  St. 
Joachim's  Church,  Frankford.  Rev.  John  H.  Loughran,  residing  at  Chelten- 
ham, is  now  in  charge.  The  church  is  of  stone,  rough  cast,  and  stands  on  an 
eminence  above  the  Pennypack  Creek  and  the  old  Print  Works,  and  lifts  its 


BUSTLETON.  461 

cross  high  in  the  air  to  tell  of  a  Crucified  Saviour.      In   Father  Maginn's 
pastorate  the  windows  were  colored,  improving  the  appearance  of  the  building. 

ST.  LUKE'S  SCHOOL. 

Mrs.  Jane  Crawford,  of  Ury  House,  Fox  Chase,  conducted  an  excellent 
school  for  boys  on  her  beautiful  place  for  about  twenty  years.  In  A.  D.  1884 
Mr.  Charles  H.  Strout,  one  of  her  teachers,  assumed  charge  of  the  institution 
and  removed  it  to  the  Willian  property  at  Bustleton.  The  name  was  taken  in 
respect  to  the  Episcopal  parish  with  which  the  school  is  connected,  by  the 
suggestion  of  the  present  rector.  The  location  is  beautiful  and  healthful,  and 
a  number  of  fine  old  forest- trees  grace  the  extensive  lawn.  The  building  has 
been  enlarged  at  different  times,  so  that  its  lights  at  night  have  the  appear- 
ance of  a  village  under  one  roof.  A  gymnasium  has  been  added.  The  advent 
of  the  bright  faces  of  the  boys  to  our  streets  marked  a  new  era  in  its  history, 
and  their  music  in  St.  Luke's  Church  is  a  pleasing  feature  of  the  service. 

Mr.  John  G.  Ford,  who  resided  in  Bustleton  in  childhood,  writes  me  that 
his  mother  informed  him  that  the  ancient  Academy  was  on  the  old  Philadel- 
phia Road  before  the  Turnpike  was  built,  so  I  suppose  that  Dr.  Andrews's 
school  was  on  the  site  of  St.  Luke's.  Dr.  Joseph  Todd,  of  Coryell's  Ferry, 
New  Hope,  had  a  son,  Charles  F.,  who  reached  home  from  boarding-school  at 
Bustleton  on  Christmas-Day,  and  saw  the  Continental  troops  march  from  New 
Hope  to  attack  the  Hessians  at  Trenton.  (Davis's  History  of  Bucks  County, 
page  880).     Could  this  have  been  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Jones's  school? 

The  following  letter  from  Rev.  R.  Andrews  Poole  gives  some  particulars 
concerning  his  grandfather.  Dr.  Andrews  : 

"  I  am,  as  you  suppose,  the  grandson  of  Dr.  Andrews,  who  for  a  time  taught 
school  at  Bustleton,  Pa.  We  are  unfortunate  in  not  having  kept  a  record  of 
my  grandfather's  life,  so  that  what  I  can  tell  you  will  simply  be  the  result,  in 
most  instances,  of  hearsay  testimony,  which  at  the  best  must  be  imperfect.  I 
gladly,  however,  give  you  what  I  have. 

"  Dr.  Andrews  was  born  in  or  near  Omah,  Tyrone  County,  Ireland,  about 
the  middle  of  the  past  century.  His  education,  which  was  a  very  liberal  one, 
was  received  first  at  the  Royal  Academy  at  Straton  (certificates  of  merit  which 
are  before  me  bear  the  dates  1786-87).  He  also  studied  at  Trinity  College, 
Dublin,  and  at  Glasgow  and  Edinburgh.  I  have  matriculating  tickets  in 
logic  and  rhetoric  from  Glasgow,  bearing  date  of  1788.  Exactly  when  he 
came  to  America  I  am  unable  to  tell.  He  had  several  brothers  who  preceded 
him  ;  one  settled  in  Virginia  and  one  or  two  in  Pennsylvania.  His  object  in 
coming  to  this  country  was  to  occupy  a  Professor's  chair  in  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania.  He  took  the  chair  one  day  and  resigned  it  the  next,  because 
of  the  rudeness  of  the  young  American  gentlemen,  his  pupils — said  students 
having  been  accustomed  to  great  liberty  of  action  with  the  aged  professor 
whose  place  he  assumed.     After  this  he  must  have  turned  his   attention  to 


462  BUSTLETON. 

private  teaching,  and  in  all  possibility  become  master  of  the  Academy  in 
your  place.  The  enclosed  commendation,  bearing  date  of  April  6,  1776, 
explains  itself,  showing  fully  the  high  character  of  Dr.  Andrews  for  scholar- 
ship and  uprightness.  On  the  24th  day  of  April,  in  St.  Peter's  Church,  Phil- 
adelphia, Dr.  Andrews  was  made  Deacon  by  Bishop  White,  and  was  appointed 
to  serve  him  as  Private  Chaplain.  I  am  uncertain  as  to  his  advancement  to 
the  Priesthood.     He  afterward  resigned  the  ministry. 

"  Returning  again  to  his  avocation  as  a  teacher,  in  a  long  and  honorable 
career  he  had  under  his  instruction  youths  who  in  after  life  attained  to  great 
social  and  political  eminence.  George  M.  Dallas,  John  M.  Scott,  Mayor  Swift 
and  others  of  equal  note  received  the  foundation  of  their  collegiate  education 
from  him. 

"  Dr.  Andrews  became  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  in  1813,  and  was, 
during  his  whole  life  a  staunch  and  uncompromising  Democrat,  but  never  a 
politician  in  any  sense.  Governor  Wolf,  in  thankful  remembrance  for  the 
many  advantages  received  from  his  old  teacher,  appointed  him  Clerk  of  the 
Orphans'  Court  in  Philadelphia  in  1830,  and  reappointed  him  in  1833.  His 
record  as  an  officer,  and  especially  as  a  reformer  of  abuses  in  the  office,  stands 
very  high. 

"  Dr.  Andrews  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  de  Basqueville,  an  English  lady 
residing  in  Philadelphia,  by  whom  he  had  but  one  child,  Marianne,  who  sur- 
vived him,  his  wife  having  died  some  years  before  his  departure.  My  grand- 
father reached  the  ripe  age  of  ninety-one  years,  and  even  at  the  time  of  his 
death  was  possessed  of  all  his  physical  and  mental  faculties.  In  personal 
appearance  he  was  commanding,  in  manner  exact  and  courteous,  and,  even 
with  many  eccentricities,  still  a  man  greatly  to  be  admired  for  purity  of  char- 
acter and  uprightness  of  purpose.  At  his  death  he  was  buried  in  a  small 
graveyard  then  owned  by  the  Baptist  Society,  of  which  his  wife  had  been  a 
member.  It  was  situated  on  the  spot  now  covered  by  the  Academy  of  Natu- 
ral Sciences  on  Cherry  Street.  When  the  burial-ground  was  sold,  his  remains 
were  removed  to  East  Laurel  Hill,  where  they  now  repose. 

"  Rev.  R.  Andrewes  Poole. 

"St.  Peter's  Rectory,  Ellicott  aty,  Md.,  July  15,  1889." 

An  aged  yellow  certificate,  dated  April  6,  1776,  with  various  signatures, 
some  faded  by  time,  accompanied  the  above  letter.  It  was  a  testimonial  that 
Mr.  Robert  Andrews  had  for  twenty  months  taught  acceptably  as  principal  in 
the  New  Academy  in  Allen  Township,  Northampton  County,  Pennsylvania. 
This  township  was  named  after  Chief  Justice  William  Allen,  whose  country- 
seat  was  at  Mount  Airy.  He  owned  much  land  in  that  section.  Governor 
George  Wolf  was  born  in  Northampton  County.-  He  became  an  advocate  of 
popular  education.  The  Governor  was  a  pupil  of  Mr.  Andrews,  and  he  suc- 
ceeded him  in  charge  of  this  Academy,  having  been  prepared  for  the  eleva- 
tion by  his  faithful  teacher ;  and  it  is  pleasant  to  know  that  in  after  years  the 
scholar  did   not  forget   his  instructor.     That  was  a  kind  of  Civil  Service 


BUSTLETON.  465 

arrangement  which  proved  useful  to  both  parties  and  might  more  frequently 
be  practised  to  advantage. 

Mrs.  Duflon,  another  grandchild  of  Dr.  Andrews,  informs  me,  through 
John  G.  Ford,  that  Dr.  A.' was  a  private  tutor  in  the  family  of  the  Duke  of 
Ormond,  and  his  Professorship  at  the  University  was  that  of  Greek  and 
Hebrew.  Governor  Wolf  was  working  as  a  gardener  near  Bustleton,  and, 
showing  talent,  the  Doctor  assisted  in  educating  him.  Dr.  Andrews  is  said 
to  have  taught  in  Bustleton  about  1808  or  1810.  The  building  has  been  much 
altered,  as  Mr.  Willian  built  the  main  part  of  the  mansion. 

The  building  now  occupied  by  St.  Luke's  School  was  in  old  time  termed 
the  Acaderny,  and  the  building  on  the  site  of  the  public  school  bore  that  des- 
ignation also.  An  aged  man  once  came  to  visit  the  scene  of  his  school-days 
at  St.  Luke's,  and  said  that  he  remembered  being  under  an  old  tree  on  the 
lawn  when  told  of  his  father's  death. 

Mr.  Strout  is  a  graduate  of  Dartmouth  College  in  New  Hampshire,  from 
which  State  he  came  to  Ury.  He  had  several  years  of  experience  in  teaching 
there  before  opening  St.  Luke's  School.  He  has  brought  New  England  pluck 
and  perseverance  to  the  difficult  task  of  conducting  a  boarding-school,  and  he 
has  the  gift  of  controlling  the  pupils  and  yet  maintaining  discipline  mingled 
with  love. 

Mr.  Strout  is  the  Rector's  Warden  of  St.  Luke's  Church.  Two  years  ago 
Mr.  Strout  associated  Mr.  F.  E.  Moulton  with  him  in  the  management  of  the 
school.  He  was  for  several  years  Head-Master  of  Bishop  Talbot's  School  in 
Macon,  Missouri,  and  has.  also  been  connected  as  a  teacher  with  St.  John's 
School,  Sing  Sing,  New  York,  Racine  Grammar  School,  Wisconsin,  and  for 
two  years  was  Head-Master  at  Kenyon  Military  Academy  at  Gambler,  Ohio. 

Mr.  Moulton  is  a  graduate  of  Hobart  College  at  Geneva,  New  York. 

The  Principals  are  assisted  by  a  full  corps  of  resident  and  visiting  teachers. 

The  pupils  attend  the  beautiful  memorial  church  of  St.  Luke's,  in  close 
proximity,  which  appropriately  suggested  the  name  for  the  school.  Morning 
and  Evening  Prayers,  with  music,  are  held  in  the  school-room.  A  choir  of 
boys,  selected  from  the  school,  furnishes  the  music  at  church  and  in  the 
school-room.  Sacred  studies  are  conducted  during  the  course,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Principal.  The  aim  is  to  throw  around  the  boys  a  positive,  but 
at  the  same  time  quiet,  unobtrusive  and  healthful  religious  and  moral  influ- 
ence, which  shall  result  in  laying  the  foundation  of  an  honest,  considerate, 
Godly  manhood. 

The  location  and  surroundings  of  St.  Luke's  are  singularly  healthful.  It 
occupies  a  position  in  a  rolling  country  several  hundred  feet  above  sea-level. 
The  air  is  remarkably  pure  and  entirely  free  from  malaria.  Every  possible 
encouragement  is  given  to  out-door  exercise  as  a  matter  of  great  importance 
in  laying  the  foundations  of  health  and  developing  a  sturdy  manliness. 
Boys  who  are  fond  of  sports  will  find  a  gymnasium,  base-ball  field,  tennis 
courts  and  every  opportunity  for  out-door  games.  Each  boy's  gymnasium- 
30 


466  BUSTLETON. 

drill  will  be  directed  accordingTto  his  especial  need  by  a  competent  master. 
Attention  is  called  to  order  and  discipline. 

The  class  of  patronage  of  this  school  is  of  a  high  order,  and  the  author  of 
this  volume  has  noticed  with  pleasure  the  gentlemanly  deportment  of  the 
pupils,  on  the  street  and  at  the  school. 

THE  FAYETTE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL 

is  a  large  two-story,  rough-cast  building,  surmounted  by  a  cupola  contain- 
ing a  bell,  occupying  the  finest  site  in  the  village,  as  it  surmounts  a  hill  which 
commands  a  remarkably  pleasing  view  over  the  surrounding  hills.  The  play- 
ground is  extensive.  Formerly  an  Academy  built  of  stone,  two  stories  in 
height,  stood  here,  in  which  the  teachers  used  to  live.  Joshua  B.Smith, from 
New  England,  was  long  noted  as  the  head  of  the  Academy.  His  sister,  Mary 
Jane  Smith,  married  Captain  James  Perkins,  of  the  Print  Works.  The  Cap- 
tain now  lives  in  Williamsport;  Mr.  Hibbs  was  another  teacher.  Mr.  Dana 
was  an  assistant  in  the  school.  Robert  Grimshaw  contracted  to  build  the 
new  building.  He  moved  to  Minnesota  with  Mr.  Hoag  and  others.  Charles 
Hoag  was  Principal  in  the  newbuilding,  succeeding  Joshua  B.  Smith.  George 
W.  Fetter,  now  Principal  of  the  Girl's  Normal  School,  was  another  Principal 
here.  Charles  Raynier,  Dr.  Martindale  (author  of  the  "  History  of  Byberry 
and  Moreland  "),  and  Messrs.  Singer,  Sickel  and  Byrom  have  held  this  post. 
James  Bunting,  w^ho  formerly  taught  in  Somerton,  was  for  years  the  Princi- 
pal here.  Henry  C.  Payne,  now  teaching  in  Chestnut  Hill,  succeeded  him. 
Messrs.  Jacobs  and  Ballantine  followed,  and  the  school  is  now^  in  charge  of 
S.  E.  B.  Kinsloe,  assisted  by  Ida  E.  Gregg,  First  Assistant ;  Virginia  Byers, 
Second  Assistant ;  Elizabeth  T.  Comly,  Third  Assistant,  and  Emma  F.  Stanger, 
Fourth  Assistant.  Miss  Pettit  was  for  a  time  a  teacher.  It  is  well  conducted. 
Above  the  Methodist  Church  was  a  small  building  known  as  "  Little  Jeru- 
salem." It  was  used  for  week-day  services  and  Sunday-school,  and  Miss  Eliza 
Slack  had  a  day-school  there  for  young  pupils,  which  is  yet  remembered. 
The  public  school  lot  was  donated  to  the  city  when  the  consolidation  occurred 
in  1854.  In  1812  the  roof  of  the  first  school  building  mentioned  was  blown 
off  in  a  hurricane.  (Dr.  Martindale's  "  Byberry  and  Moreland,"  page  164). 
The  windy  site  is  a  fine  one  for  the  children's  playground. 

THE  PRINT  WORKS  AT  LAGRANGE 

are  on  the  edge  of  Bustleton.  Three  Gordon  brothers  were  prominent  here 
years  ago.  One  had  a  woolen  factory  where  the  Print  Works  are.  He  lived 
where  Mrs.  Brooks's  store  now  stands.  Another  had  an  edge-tool  works  oppo- 
site St.  Luke's  School,  and  a  third  had  the  farm  of  George  Mills  on  the  Welsh 
Road,  near  Ashton  Railroad  Station.  The  bridge  at  the  Pike  at  the  Print 
Works  is  said  to  have  the  largest  arch  of  any  in  the  State.     It  forms  a  pretty 


BUSTLETON.  467 

picture  from  a  hill  near  by.  The  first  bridge  fell.  This  was  built  in  1805, 
William  Lewis  being  master-mason,  John  Lewis  architect  and  superintendent. 
Wendell  &  Perkins  ran  the  Print- Works  at  one  time.  After  them  Christopher 
and  Sheldon  H.  Smith,  from  Paterson,  N.  J.,  had  charge.  James  Smith  fol- 
lowed, and  Mr.  Burke.  Mr.  Barlow  used  it  as  a  shoddy  factory,  and  then  it 
was  burned  and  lay  idle  seven  years.  Mr.  John  B.  Willian  rebuilt  it  as  a 
Print  Works.  Messrs.  Pretty  and  Grime  were  his  partners.  The  mills  are 
now  idle.  They  belong  to  the  estate  of  Mrs.  Fales,  of  Philadelphia.  George 
G.  Brooks  has  given  valuable  information  in  this  and  other  matters. 

The  old  Newtown  Road,  before  the  days  of  the  Turnpike,  ran  through  the 
factory-yard  and  Mr.  Wonnenberg's  place.  There  was  a  wooden  bridge  over 
the  Pennypack.  Its  foundations  are  visible.  The  old  road  ran  in  front  of 
the  row  of  houses  diagonally  opposite  the  Print  Works,  where  there  is  an  open 
space  on  the  right  in  going  toward  Frankford.  The  view  at  the  dam  on  the 
bridge  here  is  remarkably  fine,  and  the  broken  dam  is  very  picturesque  as 
the  water  babbles  over  it. 

Captain  William  S.  Robinson,  a  member  of  the  Cincinnati  Society,  and  an 
officer  in  the  war  of  the  Rebellion,  son  of  Colonel  Robinson,  who  was  the  son  of 
a  Revolutionary  officer,  owns  the  old  Wendell  place,  joining  the  creek  where 
the  ancient  boxwood  still  asserts  its  dignified  antiquity.  A  two-story  stone 
house  with  a  piazza  stands  back  from  the  road,  making  room  for  a  pretty 
lawn  in  front  and  on  the  lower  side  of  the  house,  where  the  ground  gently 
rises.  Mr.  Rodman  had  the  Print- Works  property  when  it  was  a  black  lead 
factory,  before  it  was  used  for  calico  printing.  The  following  is  from  the  Phila- 
delphia Inquirer,  July  25, 1888 : 

"  A  specimen  of  the  Harrison  handkerchief  manufactured  by  Isaac  P. 
Wendell  &  Co.  at  Bustleton  during  the  Presidential  campaign  of  1840  was 
yesterday  shown  at  the  office  of  the  Inquirer  by  Mr.  Wendell,  who  still  sur- 
vives, being  now  in  the  seventy-sixth  year  of  his  age.  Large  quantities  of 
these  handkerchiefs  were  sold  by  David  S.  Brown  &  Co.  at  that  time,  and 
many  distributed  in  a  parade  which  took  place  just  before  the  election  of 
General  William  Henry  Harrison,  The  printed  handkerchief  represents 
General  Harrison  on  horseback  on  the  field  of  battle,  where  he  justly  earned 
the  title  of  *  Hero  of  Tippecanoe.'  The  print-works  of  Messrs.  Wendell  &  Co. 
were  started  in  1830,  at  Bustleton  (now  Twenty-third  Ward.)  The  firm  con- 
tinued the  business  of  printing  calicoes  for  about  twenty  years,  when  they 
disposed  of  it  to  Brown,  Lewis,  Chase  &  Co.,  in  that  day  a  well-known  dry- 
goods  firm  on  Market  Street  in  this  city."     This  is  now  the  35th  Ward. 

CARRIAGE-BUILDING. 

Bustleton  has  long  been  famed  for  its  carriages.  Richard  Hall  was  an  early 
carriage  builder  at  Squire  Amos  Addis  Gregg's  shops.  Thomas  Paul  once 
owned  this  carriage  shop.    Mr.  Campion  followed  Mr.  Hall  as  a  worker  in  the 


468  BUSTLETON. 

business.  George  Northrop  came  next  in  order.  Daniel  Starkey  bought  the 
works  in  the  spring  of  1827,  removing  from  Langhorne,  where  he  had  been  a 
carriage-maker.  He  bought  of  Enoch  Edwards.  Mr.  Starkey  lives  in  this 
village  in  good  old  age,  honored  by  his  descendants  and  neighbors  for  his 
exemplary  Christian  character.  He  has  aided  my  researches  in  this  and' 
other  matters.  Eor  a  short  time  Richard  McDowell  was  a  partner.  The  firm 
was  Starkey  &  McDowell.  In  1840  Mr.  Starkey  sold  to  Amos  A.  Gregg. 
Joseph  D.  Heritage  set  up  another  factory — first  where  the  Methodist  parson- 
age stands,  and  afterward  putting  up  new  buildings  on  the  Pike. 

EDWARD   FOSTER'S  FARM. 

The  farm  of  Edward  Foster,  opposite  the  churchyard  of  St.  Luke's  Episco- 
pal Church,  was  purchased  by  him  in  1885,  of  George  S.  Clark,  of  Holmes- 
burg,  whose  father,  John  Clark,  had  owned  it.  Albert  Foster  farmed  it  for  a 
time.  It  apparently  once  belonged  to  George  Stephenson.  In  A.  D.  1688 
"William  Penn  conveyed  the  place  to  James  Atkinson,  who  in  1693  sold  to 
George  Northrop.  In  1752  Peter  Duffield  sold  it  to  Samuel  Swift,  and  in  1753 
he  conveyed  it  to  Jacob  Duffield,  while  in  1772  Jacob  Duffield  transferred  it 
to  Alexander  Edwards,  and  in  1795  Rebecca  Roberts  and  John  Watts  sold  to 
John  Malferson,  an  Englishman  who  was  fond  of  the  flute,  who  in  1814 
handed  it  on  to  Manuel  Eyre  and  Charles  Massey,  and  in  1841  Charles  Massey 
sold  to  Benjamin  H.  Barton.  In  1857  John  Farnum  was  the  owner,  and  in 
1864  he  sold  to  J.  Tunis  Way,  who  in  1867  conveyed  it  to  John  Clark.  John 
Farnum  owned  also  Robert  J.  Wright's  place  opposite. 

Mr.  Farnum  was  a  Philadelphia  merchant.  He  spent  thousands  of  dollars 
in  improving  these  properties.  The  fine  rustic  stone  wall,  with  its  coping, 
which  adorns  both  sides  of  the  Newtown  Road  as  it  runs  toward  St.  Luke's 
School,  and  helps  to  give  it  the  look  of  an  English  lane,  was  built  by  Mr. 
Farnum.  He  also  built  a  large  barn  on  Mr.  Foster's  place,  with  a  cellar  made 
so  that  carts  can  be  driven  into  it,  and  had  an  extensive  vault  constructed  for 
dairy  purposes  in  the  yard  near  the  house,  and  prepared  a  vineyard  on  the 
place.  A  fine,  large,  old  pine  tree  marks  the  front  of  the  yard.  The  old 
stone  house  has  been  modernized  by  Mr.  Foster  and  a  mansard  roof  added. 
The  view  down  the  road  from  the  front  piazza  is  a  picturesque  one,  as  the 
Newtown  Road  here  breaks  from  the  Welsh  Road  and  runs  down  the  hill. 

Joseph  H.  Murray  built  the  house  of  Alfred  Dungan,  with  its  tower-like 
front  on  its  elevated  site  above  the  street.  A  wall  protects  the  front,  and  steps 
lead  up  to  the  building.  The  residence  of  Amos  Browne,  next  above,  was 
built  by  Grant  Murray.  Alexander  Brown,  afterward  Recorder  of  Deeds, 
once  lived  here.  The  neat  cottage  stands  back  from  the  street,  and  a  gable 
prettily  breaks  the  front  of  the  roof,  while  two  old  trees  guard  the  front  of  the 
yard. 


BUSTLETON.  469 

Rachel  and  Jane  De  Nyce,  who  were  sisters,  were  the  builders  of  the  old 
stone  house  next  to  Mr.  Edward  Evans's  place  on  the  Newtown  Road.  It  ^tas 
built  in  1792,  as  a  stone  in  the  building  notes.  The  ladies  formerly  lived  in 
Germantown. 

The  old  stone  house  next  below  the  depot,  now  two  dwellings,  was  formerly 
one  with  a  wide  hall.  It  was  built  by  two  maiden  sisters,  named  Harker. 
Mrs.  Emily  Snyder  lived  for  twenty-five  years  in  the  lower  portion  and  has 
recently  died.  It  was  formerly  styled  "  The  Bee-Hive,"  because  several  fami- 
lies occupied  it.  Judge  Boileau  told  Daniel  Starkey,  Sr.,  that  William  Cob- 
bett  was  fond  of  hunting.  He  had  a  hunting-dog  killed  by  lightning  in  the 
hall  of  this  house.     The  dog  was  between  his  feet. 

Dr.  Moses  Smith  built  the  stone  house  of  the  Misses  Shearer,  next  below 
the  Bustleton  Hotel,  where  Dr.  George  Byers  had  his  office.  Dr.  Smith  prac- 
tised here.  His  son  Albert  was  a  prominent  doctor  in  Philadelphia.  Dr. 
Swift  built  the  stone  house  opposite  the  Shearer  house,  occupied  by  the  Cata- 
nach  family,  containing  a  meat-shop  in  the  lower  end,  where  John  Donohue 
conducted  business  until  his  death,  which  occurred  not  long  since,  when  the 
business  passed  into  the  present  hands.  Another  Dr.  Swift  lived  in  the 
Shearer  house.  It  is  thought  that  perhaps  he  died  in  Easton.  He  suggested 
the  use  of  adhesive  strips  for  producing  counter-extension  in  the  treatment 
of  fractures.  Dr.  Stewart  also  lived  in  the  Shearer  house.  He  was  some- 
thing of  an  artist.  Dr.  John  H.  Ingham  practised  in  this  village  at  one  time, 
living  in  the  house  now  the  residence  of  Mrs.  Thomas  Grime  and  her  family, 
which  is  noticeable  for  its  well-kept  yard,  adorned  with  the  beauties  of  the 
natural  world.  Dr.  Rodman  perhaps  succeeded  Dr.  Smith.  Dr.  Chamberlain 
lived  where  Dr.  J.  Monroe  Beyer  now  resides.  Dr.  Beyer  is  a  graduate  of 
Hahnemann  College  in  Philadelphia  and  has  practised  here  for  several  years. 
This  property,  just  above  the  depot,  on  the  opposite  side,  belongs  to  Dr. 
Powell,  of  Frankford,  who  formerly  practised  there.  (It  is  now  owned  by  his 
son,  Dr.  Powell,  of  Bryn  Mawr — the  father  died  lately).  Dr.  Curran  once  had 
a  drug-store  there,  in  partnership  with  Mr.  Rex.  Dr.  Wilson  lived  here  about 
1861.  He  moved  into  the  heart  of  the  city.  This  stone  building,  with  its 
long  piazza,  was  erected  forty-five  years  ago  by  Miss  Eleanor  Jones,  who 
lived  here  with  her  sister. 

JUDGE  JOHN  B.  BOILEAU. 

This  gentleman  is  buried  at  the  Baptist  graveyard  at  Pennypack  (Lower 
Dublin),  with  his  wife  and  three  sons.  He  lived  at  "  Poplar  Hall,"  now  owned 
by  Mr.  Trudell,  at  the  corner  of  Banes  Street  and  the  Turnpike.  His  moth- 
er's sister  was  coming  in  a  wagon  to  Bustleton,  and  brought  some  Lombardy 
poplars  with  her.  In  fording  the  Susquehanna  River  she  was  washed  out  of 
the  wagon  and  clung  to  the  trees,  losing  everything  else.  The  seven  trees 
stood  in  front  of  the  house.     The  name  was  given  to  the  place  by  Mrs.  Jenks, 


470  BUSTLETON. 

of  Newtown,  who  resided  there,  being  a  relation  of  the  Judge.  The  title  of 
Judge  was  given  to  Mr.  Boileau  on  account  of  a  mock  trial.  He  lived  to  be 
over  ninet}'^  years  old.  "  The  poplars  are  felled,"  like  those  of  Cowper,  and 
one  may  bid  "  Farewell  to  the  shade." 

The  gentlemanly  railway  conductor,  Elias  Toy,  lives  in  the  next  house 
below.  It  is  remarkable  from  the  fact  that  Mr.  Dobbins,  its  first  owner, 
brought  the  material  of  a  Filbert  Street  dwelling,  demolished  by  the  Penn- 
sylvania Railroad,  here  to  construct  it.         / 

Joseph  Wagner  and  Ann  Ashton,  his  wife — "  Auntie  Ashton,"  as  she  was 
kindly  called — lived  on  Charles  P.  Tomlinson's  place  and  owned  the  property. 
They  are  buried  in  All  Saints'  Cemetery,  Torresdale.  They  deserve  mention 
as  early  and  useful  helpers  in  the  work  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Bustleton, 
as  early  services  were  held  in  a  hall  on  their  property,  which  had  been  origi- 
nally built  for  a  Temperance  Hall. 

George  Cliffs  long,  low,  yellow- washed  stone  house  stood  between  Judge 
Boileau's  and  the  depot,  but  next  below  the  Judge's  house  was  Christopher 
Search's  dwelling.  Then  in  the  small  double,  frame  house  lived  Samuel 
Helverson  and  Betsy,  his  wife.     The  present  depot  was  once  a  tailor's  shop. 

THE  BUSTLETON  HOTEL, 

with  its  ample  front  of  ground  and  roomy  horse-sheds,  has  of  late  years  been 
known  as  Murray's  Hotel,  from  the  polite  landlord,  Robert  N.  Murray,  who 
was  long  its  pleasant  and  respected  host.  The  deeds  show  that  in  1772  "  Bus- 
selton"  Hotel  was  sold  by  Evan  Edwards,  for  his  attorney.  Dr.  Enoch 
Edwards,  to  William  Roberts,  Jr.  Major  Evan  Edwards,  here  named,  was 
Aid-de-Camp  to  General  Lee  in  the  Army  of  the  United  States  of  America  in 
the  Revolution.  He  was  the  son  of  Alexander  Edwards,  Esq.  In  1795  the 
widow,  Rebecca  Roberts,  and  John  Watts  (schoolmaster)  and  wife  sold  to 
Thomas  Paul  (merchant).  The  property  then  contained  over  twenty-two 
acres.  It  has  now  but  a  moderate  portion  of  land.  In  1829  Justice  Dickin- 
son and  wife  deeded  the  place  to  Thomas  S.  Hart.  Joseph  Paul  and  Jonathan 
Wainwright  were  then  executors  of  Thomas  Paul.  In  1844  Robert  L.  Long- 
head and  wife  conveyed  the  hotel  to  Joseph  Fell.  In  1849  Mr.  Fell  sold  it  to 
William  A.  Murray.  In  1851  William  A.  Murray  and  Emily  his  wife  deeded 
it  to  John  D.  Murray,  who,  with  his  wife  Lucretia,  transferred  it  to  Robert  N- 
Murray  in  1860,  In  1883  the  Murray  family  sold  the  hotel  to  Abraham  D. 
Stever,  who  sold  to  Samuel  Houpt  in  1884.  Mr.  Houpt  has  aided  my  investi- 
gations.    John  F.  Kiggins  is  now  the  landlord. 

THE  BUSTLETON  AND  SOMERTON  TURNPIKE  COMPANY 

was  organized  in  1840.  A  previous  company  had  failed,  and  the  pike  was 
rebuilt  at  great  expense,  as  Martindale's  History  of  Byberry  and  Moreland 


BUSTLETON.  471 

shows.  The  present  President  is  William  S.  llogeland,  of  Feasterville.  The 
Secretary  is  Charles  Wright,  and  John  T.  Dungan,  of  Bustleton,  is  Treasurer. 
Benjamin  Snyder,  of  Bustleton,  was  the  first  Treasurer,  from  1840  to  1864. 
Jesse  Dungan  succeeded  him.  John  Rees,  Esq.,  of  Somerton,  followed  in  this 
office  from  1864  to  1868,  and  John  T.  Dungan  was  his  successor  in  1869,  and 
now  holds  the  post. 

There  is  an  advertisement  of  the  Swift-Sure  line  of  stages,  running  through 
Bustleton  to  New  York,  in  the  United  States  Gazette  of  November,  A.  D.  1797. 

The  Association  Library  Company  of  Bustleton  issued  a  pamphlet  con- 
taining its  Constitution  and  By-Laws.  It  is  dated  1793,  Samuel  Swift,  father 
of  Joseph  and  Edwin  Swift,  Enoch  C.  Edwards,  a  Bustleton  merchant,  and 
Dr.  Smith  were  once  trustees  of  the  Academy  which  preceded  Fayette  Public 
School. 

The  stone  house  now  occupied  by  Robert  Nichols,  adjoining  his  blacksmith 
shop,  was  once  the  residence  of  the  Marshall  family.  A  Marshall  of  Bustle- 
ton was  one  of  the  pedestrians  in  the  famous  Indian  Walk,  though  I  know 
not  whether  of  this  family.  The  abode  of  David  W^ebster  was  owned  by 
Amos  and  Rebecca  Duffield.  The  Duffield  family  used  to  own  much  land 
in  this  region.  The  stone  dwelling  which  is  now  the  depot  was  formerly  occu- 
pied by  John  Robbins,  a  cattle-dealer.  His  son  was  the  Hon.  John  Robbins, 
a  member  of  Congress.  The  shop  now  used  by  Frank  Heyer  is  on  a  site 
where  Nathaniel  Boileau  once  had  a  shop,  though  William  Taylor  built  the 
present  one.  Squire  Banes's  brother  once  lived  here.  Mr.  John  Boileau, 
who  has  always  lived  in  this  neighborhood,  affords  me  this  information. 

THE  EAGLE  HOTEL 

has  long  served  the  public.  It  is  a  lengthy  building,  with  ample  sheds  and 
an  open  space  of  ground  on  the  lower  side.  The  late  Benjamin  Snyder  kept 
it  about  fifty  years  and  enlarged  it,  building  the  upper  end.  His  widow,  Mrs. 
Emily  Snyder,  died  a  few  days  ago,  and  was  buried  by  the  side  of  her  hus- 
band in  All  Saints'  churchyard,  at  Torresdale.  The  Leedom  family  owned  the 
hotel  before  Mr.  Snyder  obtained  it.  Thomas  Fetter  was  the  landlord  for 
years,  but  John  Kiggins  now  conducts  the  house,  which  belongs  to  Charles 
Tillyer,  of  Philadelphia. 

Since  the  above  was  written,  the  building  has  been  repaired  and  improved, 
and  William  Fitzgerald  is  the  present  landlord. 

Thomas  Coryatt,  a  gentleman  from  Somerset,  who  travelled  over  a  great 
part  of  Europe  in  the  reign  of  King  James  I,  and  wrote  an  amusing  account 
of  his  travels,  gives  a  curious  instance  of  the  prevalence  of  signs  in  Paris 
representing  birds.  Speaking  of  the  bridges  over  the  Seine,  he  says  one  of 
them  is  "the  Bridge  of  Birdes,  formerly  called  the  Millar's  Bridge.  The  rea- 
son why  it  is  called  the  Bridge  of  Birdes  is  because  all  the  signes  belonging 
unto  shops  on  each  side  of  the  streets  are  signes  of  birdes."     They  were  not 


472  BUSTLETON. 

so  common  in  England,  though  the  Eagle  was  heraldic  in  origin.  The 
Golden  Eagle  "  was  the  emblem  of  the  Eastern  Empire."  In  1711  James 
Levi,  a  bookseller  in  the  Strand,  used  it. — (Larwood  &  Hotten's  History  of 
Sign-Boards,  page  199.) 

Mr.  John  Kuhn's  house,  on  the  Welsh  Road,  was  formerly  the  property  of 
Jesse  Clewell.  He  was  a  gunsmith,  and  the  shop  he  used  still  stands  on 
the  street.  James  Guthrie's  place,  next  door  but  one  below,  belonged  to  Jesse 
Rex,  father  of  the  druggist,  John  Rex.  Mrs.  Ann  Cliffs  house,  on  the  Bus- 
tleton  Pike,  next  above  the  public  school  grounds,  and  next  below  the  residence 
of  Mrs.  Geissler  and  William  A.  Bonner's,  was  formerly  Robert  Plummer's.  It 
was  once  a  hotel  for  a  short  time.  Jesse  Rex  and  Dr.  James  were  once  occu- 
pants. 

William  H.  Boileau  erected  the  house  opposite,  where  Captain  Dungan 
died.     It  is  now  owned  by  Mr.  Charles  Burk. 

William  Spencer  made  agricultural  machinery  where  the  Methodist  par- 
sonage stands  on  the  Welsh  Road.  He  did  a  large  business,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  the  late  Joseph  Heritage,  who  used  the  place  before  he  built  his 
carriage  shops  on  the  Pike. 

THE  UNION  HALL 

is  a  two-story  building  of  stone,  rough  cast,  built  in  1847  by  a  stock  company 
composed  mostly  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  containing  some  Sons  of  Temperance. 
These  bodies  used  it.  The  Grangers  and  Knights  of  the  Mystic  Chain,  the 
Building  and  Loan  Association,  and  the  North  Thirty-fifth  Ward  Improvement 
Association  meet  here. 

The  house  of  Marquedant  Jones  on  the  Welsh  Road  was  long  occupied  by 
Dr.  James  and  his  family,  who  were  worthy  villagers.  Dr.  James  lived  in 
Mrs.  Ann  Cliffs  house  before  removing  to  this  dwelling.  His  son  Samuel  and 
his  daughters  Martha  and  Anna  lived  here  for  years.     All  are  now  dead. 

The  Post  Office  (Station  P,  Philadelphia)  has  for  several  years  been  in  the 
store  of  Mrs.  John  P.  Brooks,  and  is  conducted  by  herself  and  her  son  Elmer 
G.  The  late  Mr.  Brooks  enlarged  the  building.  Mr.  Enoch  Edwards  and 
Charles  Tillyer  each  formerly  conducted  the  store.  Mrs.  Brooks  has  made  a 
public  hall  in  the  third  story,  used  hv  societies.  The  post-office  was  here  for 
a  long  time  during  Enoch  Edwards's  time,  and  then  moved  to  Jesse  Dungan's 
store,  now  kept  by  his  son,  John  Dungan.  The  office  next  moved  to  Howard 
Banes's  store,  now  kept  by  Willett  Boileau,  and  thence  came  back  to  its  pres- 
ent location. 

Thomas  Paul  kept  a  store  and  lived  in  Dr.  Hickman's  house,  which  was 
lately  burned.  He  did  a  large  business.  John  Trump  long  owned  the  prop- 
erty. Jesse  Dungan  had  the  store  for  years,  and  then  bought  the  place  which 
his  son,  John  Dungan,  now  occupies,  and  where  Jesse  Dungan's  widow 
resides.     This  is  a  large  stone  building  erected  by  General  William  Duncan, 


BUSTLETON.  473 

who  lived  a  number  of  years  here  before  1812,  and  it  was  used  by  him  as  a 
store.  John  W.  Trump  conducted  a  store  for  some  time  in  the  Hickman  prop- 
erty. Amos  Snyder,  related  to  the  P>ankford  family  of  that  name,  kept  the 
store  before  John  Trump,  Sr.,  had  it.  He  was  a  polite  and  agreeable  man.  He 
married  a  sister  of  Dr.  Swift. 

The  Woodrington  Brothers  once  kept  Willett  Boileau's  store,  now  owned 
by  the  estate  of  Nathan  Boileau.  (It  has  since  been  bought  by  Willett  Boil- 
eau.  Nathan  Boileau  kept  it  for  years.)  It  was  also  once  in  the  hands  of 
George  Richardson. 

THE  RAILWAY 

came  here  in  May,  1870.  It  was  first  chartered  as  the  Frankford  and  Holmes- 
burg  Horse-Car  Company.  The  Depot-Masters  have  been :  John  Trump, 
1870 ;  Charles  B.  Spain,  John  F.  Haines ;  and  since  August,  1877,  Charles  B. 
Tomlinson,  the  present  efficient  agent.  M.  S.  Mason  is  Baggage-Master,  and 
J.  A.  Mason  is  Watchman  and  Assistant.  The  faithful  Conductor,  Elias  Toy, 
and  the  trusty  brothers  Haggerty,  who  are  Engineers,  live  in  Bustleton,  which 
is  the  terminus  of  the  railroad.     Mr.  Jones  is  another  pleasant  employe. 

The  Bustleton  police  are :  Mounted,  Harry  T.  Ashton,  Harry  Knowles, 
Reuben  Wolstonholme ;  and  Charles  R.  Burk,  on  duty  at  Tacony  Police  Sta- 
tion ;  and  William  Ward,  resident  here.  James  Brown  and  Christopher 
Weisharr  were  formerly  Bustleton  policemen. 

David  T.  Knorr  founded  the  newspaper  business  here,  and  his  son,  Jacob 
S.  Knorr  continues  the  agency  with  his  father's  aid.  Many  papers  are  circu- 
lated. 

The  fine  old  mansion  owned  and  occupied  by  Robert  J.  Wright,  LL.D., 
with  its  pretty  hedge  and  stone  walls,  was  once  the  school  of  Mr.  Neville,  and 
afterward  the  residence  of  Tunis  J.  Way,  of  whom  Mr.  Wright  purchased  it. 
John  Farnum,.  of  Philadelphia,  once  owned  it  and  improved  it  greatly.  Mr. 
Wright  has  a  valuable  library,  and  is  the  author  of  several  books. 

A  natural  terrace  on  the  Pike,  before  the  entrance  of  Chestnut  avenue, 
contains  the  neat  cottages  of  Mrs.  Willian  and  Philip  Arrison.    The  situation  • 
is  a  fine  one  for  dwellings  and  may  be  built  on  in  future. 

The  ground  where  St.  Luke's  Episcopal  Church  stands  was  once  the  property 
of  John  Fetter  Heritage,  as  well  as  the  small  house  next  below  the  church, 
on  Mr.  Wright's  place.  He  also  ow^ned  the  double  house  nearly  opposite  the 
rectory,  as  well  as  John  Ward's  property  on  Boileau's  Lane,  and  Mr.  Wonen- 
berg's  house. 

Benjamin  Snyder  was  Captain  of  the  Washington  Cavalry.  He  went  to 
Trenton  with  his  troop  to  escort  Lafayette  to  Philadelphia.  A  son  was  born 
to  him  at  that  time  and  hence  called  Lafayette.  The  father  owned  the  prop- 
erty opposite  William  Boileau's,  now  owned  by  Mr.  Charles  James  and  Mr. 
Isaac  C.  Wells.     Mr.  Charles  Hicks  was  once  owner  of  Mr.  James's  place,  and 


474  BUSTLETON. 

the  street  was  called  Hicks's  Lane.  The  lane  by  the  side  of  Mr.  Boileau's 
is  styled  Boileau's  Lane.  John  McDaniel  built  Mr.  James's  house,  and  the 
street  was  called  McDaniel's  Lane  at  first. 

In  the  diary  of  Robert  Morton  (Pennsylvania  Magazine  of  History,  Vol.  I, 
page  31)  I  find  this  note  about  this  section  of  country :  "  The  numbers  of 
people  who  have,  by  permission  of  Washington,  been  going  to  Pennapack 
for  these  some  weeks  past  for  flour  at  40  sh.  per  cwt.,  c.  m.,  are  now  stopped  by 
his  order."— November  23d,  1777. 

The  burnt  mill  (Walnut  Mill)  on  the  Pennj'pack  above  Bustleton  is  a  pic- 
turesque spot,  near  a  large  bridge.  It  was  an  old  flour  mill.  Jacob  Swartz- 
lander  built  it  anew.  It  passed  through  Mr.  Nessinger's  hands  to  James 
Gordon,  and  is  now  a  part  of  his  estate.  (Mrs.  Clara  Murray  now  ow^ns  it.) 
There  was  once  a  fulling-mill  on  John  Farrell's  farm,  on  the  Welsh  Road, 
near  the  old  school  lot.  Elizabeth,  Paul  and  Sarah  Townsend  once  owned 
this  place.     The  race  is  yet  visible.     The  mill  was  near  the  road. 

The  Big  Rock  on  or  near  the  Walton  farm,  at  the  Newtown  Railroad,  is 
one  of  the  finest  bits  of  scenery  in  this  country  and  worth  a  tramp  to  view  it. 

EVERGREEN  TERRACE. 

One  of  the  finest  country-seats  in  this  section  is  Evergreen  Terrace,  the  resi- 
dence of  Edward  Evans.  It  is  well  named,  as  an  abundance  of  evergreen  trees 
brighten  the  place  both  in  summer  and  winter.  The  house  is  a  large  one,  three 
stories  high  and  built  of  stone.  The  site  on  a  hill  commands  a  beautiful  view. 
The  rooms  have  high  ceilings,  and  the  house  has  modern  improvements,  while 
a  wide  piazza  on  three  sides  gives  opportunity  to  enjoy  the  summer  breezes. 
Tunis  J.  Way  built  this  mansion,  and  Mr.  Evans  purchased  of  him  when  he 
removed  from  the  heart  of  the  city  to  this  suburb  several  years  ago.  There 
are  two  entrances — one  from  the  Welsh  Road  and  another  from  the  Newtown 
Road — in  the  rear  of  St.  Luke's  School.  Both  are  lined  with  trees,  making 
beautiful  avenues.  Mr.  Evans  has  long  been  the  faithful  Accounting  AVarden 
of  St.  Luke's  Episcopal  Church.  He  is  a  descendant  of  Edward  Lane,  who 
came  over  with  William  Penn. 

In  a  pretty  cottage  on  his  place  Mr.  Silas  W.  Gosler  resides,  while  Joseph 
Farrell  (now  Mr.  Fitzgerald)  occupies  the  farmhouse  near  the  large  barn, 
w^hich  is  a  prominent  object  in  the  scenery.  The  Pennypack  Creek  winds 
beautifully  in  the  rear  of  this  place,  and  a  rustic  seat  on  its  wooded  bank  gives 
the  pedestrian  a  means  of  viewing  its  meanderings. 

Beyond  Mr.  Shay's  farm  lies  George  Rogers's  yarn-mill,  formerly  conducted 
by  the  .late  Fleetwood  Lodge.  An  axe-factory  once  occupied  its  site  and  gave 
name  to  the  road,  which  here  passes  over  one  of  the  many  bridges  w4iich  span 
the  winding  creek.  The  hills  rise  abruptly  beyond  the  mill,  and  the  dam  and 
the  stone  wall  which  guards  the  road  combine  to  form  a  scene  of  peculiar 
beauty.     We  follow  the  picturesque  stream  past  Mr.  Otto's  farm  and  a  rustic 


BUSTLETON.  477 

cottage  on  the  hillside  occupied  by  C.  H.  Urban,  formerly  Mr.  Cliffs,  until  we 
reach  Mr.  Harry  Barton's  pleasant  English-looking  abode  perched  on  a  hill 
above  the  stream.  This  was  erected  by  Mr.  Outerbridge.  A  little  beyond 
a  similar  mansion  is  owned  by  Mr.  William  Shollenberger.  This  was  once 
Mr.  Harvey's  residence.  The  sons  of  Mr.  Barton  (Charles)  and  Mr.  Shollen- 
berger (George)  have  lately  erected  two  pretty  architectural  cottages,  which 
lie  between  their  fathers'  residences,  and,  with  the  tasteful  stables,  enliven  the 
prospect. 

Returning  to  Evergreen  Terrace,  if  we  travel  on  the  Welsh  Road  toward 
Holmesburg,  Daniel  Starkey's  well-kept  farm  meets  us,  and  beyond  it  John 
Neville's,  where  the  farmhouse  has  lately  been  enlarged  and  improved  with 
good  taste.  It  is  embowered  in  trees  and  a  pleasant  piazza  fronts  the  road. 
The  Glacken  house,  opposite,  on  the  Eckley  Company's  tract,  was  once  the 
residence  of  one  of  the  Hall  families,  while  another  lived  in  the  ancient  house 
which  has  lately  been  demolished  opposite  Mr.  Evans's  entrance.  Opposite 
St.  Luke's  School  is  the  large  Wendell  house,  where  William  Guthrie  Wen- 
dell resides.  It  is  built  of  stone  and  is  beautifully  located,  having  the  grounds 
of  St.  Luke's  School  as  a  park  before  it.  Just  below  this  house  is  the  neat 
country-place  of  Miss  Emma  Smith,  of  Philadelphia.  A  bay-window  diver- 
sifies the  front  of  the  house,  while  trees  and  flowers  contend  in  honors  with 
the  grass-plot  to  make  the  rustic  abode  cheerful. 

The  following  is  from  the  Holmesburg  Journal  of  May  30th,  1888 : 

"  Captain  Yonker  lived  on  a  farm  on  the  Krewstown  Road,  below  Brous's 
plow-factory,  before  removing  to  Collegeville.  Uncle  Billy  Yonker,  as  he  is 
familiarly  called,  is  a  resident  of  the  General  Wayne  Inn,  and  a  relative  of 
the  proprietor,  Chris.  Snyder.  He  is  in  his  eighty-ninth  year,  and  is  a  well- 
preserved  old  man.  For  many  years  he  was  a  resident  of  Busileton,  and  any 
information  that  is  required  of  bygone  days  in  that  section  of  the  country 
can  be  furnished  by  Uncle  Billy.  He  has  always  been  a  staunch  Jacksonian 
Democrat,  never  missed  an  election  from  the  time  he  had  a  vote,  and  when 
asked  the  question  whether  he  belonged  to  the  Harrity  or  the  Randall  wing 
of  the  Democracy,  he  replied :  '  Neither ;  I  am  a  Democrat.'  The  old  gentle- 
man is  a  favorite  with  every  one,  and,  having  a  rugged  constitution,  is  des- 
tined to  weather  the  storm  for  some  time  yet." 

Edward  Marshall,  of  Bustleton,  was  one  of  the  three  men  who  walked  the 
Great  Walk,  or  Indian  Walk  of  1737,  concerning  which  William  J.  Buck  has 
lately  written  a  book.  A  day  and  a  half's  walk  of  land  was  to  be  obtained 
from  the  Indians,  but  the  walk,  by  the  endurance  and  over-exertion  of  the 
white  walkers,  extended  far  beyond  the  Indians'  expectation,  as  they  looked 
for  moderate  pedestrianism,  instead  of  racing. 

Marshall  was  born  in  Bustleton,  A.  D.  1710,  and  was  twenty-seven  years  old 
at  the  time  of  the  walk.  He  was  a  "  hunter  by  occupation  and  choice,"  and 
was  twice  married  and  the  father  of  twenty-one  children.  When  living  where 
Stroudsburg  now  stands,  his  first  wife  was  killed  by  the  Indians.     He  killed 


478  BUSTLETON. 

many  Indians  afterward.  He  died  November  7th,  A.  D.  1789,  aged  seventy- 
nine  years;  he  was  buried  in  the  Marshall  graveyard.  His  rifle  is  in  posses- 
sion of  his  grandson,  William  Ridge,  of  Tinicum,  on  the  Delaware  below  the 
mouth  of  Tinicum  Creek  in  Bucks  County.  There  is  another  Tinicum  in 
Delaware  County,  where  the  Lazaretto  stands.  (See  General  Davis's  History 
of  Bucks  County,  page  499,  and  pages  496,  497.)  Marshall's  burying-ground 
is  a  mile  northeast  of  Headquarters,  which  is  a  hamlet  of  Tinicum  (pages 
508  and  511).  Marshall  had  the  barrel  and  lock  of  his  rifle  purchased  in 
Germany,  but  it  was  mounted  in  America  (page  507.)  As  to  the  date  and 
place  of  birth,  see  page  496. 

For  a  notice  of  Bustleton  and  Moreland,  the  reader  may  consult  Hazard's 
Register,  Vol.  V,  pages  137-139. 

The  Hon.  Horatio  Gates  Jones,  who  has  written  a  valuable  history  of  Lower 
Dublin  Baptist  Church,  wrote  me  of  Rev.  Morgan  Edwards  (author  of  "  Mate- 
rials for  a  History  of  the  Baptists  "),  Joshua  Thomas  and  Rev.  William  Rich- 
ards, LL.D.,  as  contemporaries  of  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Jones,  pastor  of  that 
church.  They  were  \Velshmen.  For  a  notice  of  Rev.  John  Watts,  see  Jones's 
History.     Dr.  Kinnearsly  is  also  noticed. 

William  Cobbett  has  been  treated  of.  An  article  on  him  may  be  found  in 
the  Nineteenth  Century  Review  of  February,  1886,  by  C.  Milnes  Gaskell.  Town- 
send  Ward,  in  his  description  of  "  North  Second  Street,"  in  the  Pennsylvania 
Magazine  of  History,  Vol.  II,  page  171,  states  that  on  the  east  side  of  Second 
Street,  north  of  Pewter  Plate  Alley  (so  named  from  a  tavern  thus  called),  was 
the  publishing  office  of  William  Cobbett,  or  "  Peter  Porcupine,"  as  he  styled 
himself. 

The  Indian  name  of  the  creek,  Pemmapecka  in  the  old  spelling,  now  Pen- 
nypack,  is  said  to  mean  "  water  without  a  current."    (Idem,  page  431.) 

While  there  is  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  meaning  of  old  English 
names,  Bristol  has  been  supposed  to  come  from  Briestow,  and  Brislingtown  or 
Busseltown  from  Bristol.  The  Saxon  of  Briestow  is  ''  breach  place ;  "  that  is, 
place  or  town  of  the  break  or  chasm  through  which  the  River  Avon  finds  a 
passage  to  the  sea.  The  ancient  British  name  was  "  Caer  Oder,"  "  the  city  of 
the  breach."  See  Lippincott's  Gazetteer,  where  Brislington  is  described  as  a 
parish  of  England,  in  the  county  of  Somerset.  Bristol  is  partly  in  Somerset- 
shire. 

George  Breck  married  Catherine  D.  Israel.  He  had  eight  sons  and  six 
daughters.     Twelve  of  these  children  grew  up  to  manhood  and  womanhood. 

Mr.  Cox,  the  father  of  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Cox,  Dean  of  the  Cathedral  at  Garden 
City,  L.  I.,  lived  next  above  Mr.  Breck's  place.  The  fine  old  house  is  approached 
by  a  long  lane  and  surrounded  by  an  extensive  farm.  Mrs.  Eliza  Rea  Negus,  of 
Holmesburg,  used  to  live  here,  and  her  son,  Alexander  Negus,  now  owns  and 
occupies  the  old-time,  ample  mansion.  Mr.  Burke  was  a  teacher  in  the  school- 
house  on  Joseph  Batzel's  place.  A  part  of  the  farmhouse  was  formerly  a  school- 
house.     Mr.  John  Neville,  the  father  of  Charles  Neville,  had  a  noted  classical 


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BUSTLETON.  481 

boarding-school  for  boys  at  R.  T.  Wright's  place,  and  when  he  moved  to  Wal- 
nut Hill,  the  school  was  continued  there ;  while  his  sister,  Miss  Betsey  Neville, 
had  a  class  of  girls  at  the  last-named  place. 

The  mansion-house  on  the  Welsh  Road  near  Bustleton-  called  Walnut  Hill 
on  the  estate  of  Charles  Neville,  is  one  of  the  finest  in  this  section.  Its  posi- 
tion, on  a  little  hill  which  affords  a  slope  for  the  wooded  lawn  and  a  view  of 
the  surrounding  country,  is  a  pretty  feature,  while  the  lane  skirted  with  trees 
makes  an  attractive  entrance.  An  old  house  once  stood  near  the  barn,  but  it 
has  vanished  in  the  lapse  of  time.  The  present  mansion  house  of  stone,  with 
a  porch  in  front  and  another  in  the  rear,  and  its  high  ceilings  and  large  par- 
lor, was  built  by  Mr.  Watson,  and  was  afterward  in  the  hands  of  his  son-in- 
law,  Mr.  Gurling.  It  was  then  bought  by  Mr.  Bisland,  of  Mississippi,  who 
soon  sold  it  to  Mr.  Neville's  father,  as  the  late  Charles  Neville  informed  me. 
The  elder  Mr.  Neville  had  a  school  here.  The  school-room  was  in  the  rear  of 
the  mansion,  and  is  now  occupied  by  Mr.  Abbott  as  a  dwelling.  The  Mar- 
shall family,  of  Philadelphia,  have  a  neat  cottage  on  the  road  just  above  the 
entrance  to  the  Neville  place,  which  they  use  as  a  summer  residence.  There 
is  a  pretty  lawn  above  the  cottage  and  ample  grounds  surround  it,  making  a 
cosy  summer  retreat.  This  was  called  White's  Corners,  from  a  family  of  that 
name  who  were  old  residents.  Some  of  them  live  in  Frankford.  An  old  log 
house  formerly  stood  on  the  corner. 

GWIN'S  MILLS. 

Gwin's  Mills  were  bought  by  Robert  Verree,  the  grandfather  of  the  late 
Hon.  John  P.  Verree  and  Mrs.  Dr.  Ingham.  A  part  of  the  house  which 
adjoins  the  mills  was  built  in  A.  D.  1776.  Gwin's  mill  was  a  grist-milL 
James  Verree  started  a  rolling-mill.  The  bridge  was  built  in  1814.  The 
place  became  a  shovel  mill,  and  afterward  an  edge-tool  factory.  Flaxseed  oil 
was  also  made  at  the  grist-mill.  At  the  Revolution,  the  grist-mill  of  Mr.  Ver- 
ree was  raided  by  the  British  and  the  bolting-cloth  was  torn.  The  Verrees 
are  of  French  descent,  the  original  name  being  Verrier.  The  mills  nestle  in 
a  pretty  valley,  amid  wooded  hills,  while  the  babbling  Pennypack  Creek  runs 
along  beside  them,  talking  of  the  time  when  the  sound  of  the  hammer  and 
the  noise  of  the  workmen  enlivened  it.  Mrs.  Ingham's  stone  residence,  with 
its  terraced  lawn,  is  very  picturesque. 

LYNGANOIR. 

A  dignified  old  stone  mansion,  rough-cast  and  colored  yellow,  stands  in  a 
lawn  behind  ancient  trees,  on  the  Krewstown  Road  just  above  the  Lower  Dub- 
lin Baptist  Church.  It  is  the  residence  of  the  Misses  Henderson  and  their 
sister,  Mrs.  Dade.     A  ha-ha  wall  and  hedge  ornament  the  front  of  the  prop- 

31 


482  BUSTLETON. 

erty ;  a  farm  surrounds  the  dwelling.  Samuel  J.  Henderson,  Esq.,  the  father 
of  the  present  occupants,  was  a  lawyer  in  Philadelphia. 

Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Jones  spent  his  latter  days  in  this  old  family  mansion  and 
died  here.  His  wife^died  in  1802,  and  he  then  moved  to  this  place,  where  he 
died  in  1814.  He  had  resided  in  the  old  stone  mansion  on  the  farm,  now 
appropriated,  by  the  generosity  of  Mrs.  Ryerss'  will,  to  the  use  of  the  Society 
for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals,  having  been  purchased  with  her 
legacy.  Rev.  Theophilus  Harris  and  his  wife  bought  that  farm  of  Rev.  Dr. 
Jones.  Mr.  Harris  built  a  woolen  factory  for  his  son  where  the  saw-mill  now 
stands. 

The  date  of  the  old  homestead  will  be  found  on  the  gable  end  of  the  house  with 
initials  S.  and  S.  J.,  intended  for  Samuel  and  Silvia  Jones.  There  the  Rev.  Sam. 
uel  Jones  lived  for  many  years ;  his  children  were  born  there,  and  there  they 
died,  with  the  exception  of  his  daughter  Sarah.  During  the  Revolutionary 
War,  Dr.  Jones  was  much  from  home,  being  a  chaplain  in  the  army.  Upon 
man}'^  occasions  the  British,  in  their  -raids  over  the  country,  visited  his  home, 
and  would  have  deprived  the  little  ones  of  their  sustenance  by  driving  off  the 
cows,  had  not  the  dignified  and  gentle  Mrs.  Jones  appealed  to  their  manly 
instincts,  winning  their  respect  and  sympathy.  Mrs.  Jones  was  a  daughter  of 
Jacob  Spicer,  of  New  Jersey,  and  a  sister  of  the  wife  of  Thomas  Chalkley,  of 
Chalkley  Hall,  the  eminent  preacher  among  the  Friends. 

About  the  year  1800,  Dr.  Jones  built  on  a  part  of  his  land  the  house  at  the 
place  called  Lynganoir,  for  his  daughter,  who  was  soon  to  marry  young  Rob- 
ert Henderson,  of  Scotland.  Mr.  Henderson  lived  only  a  few  months  after 
his  marriage.  The  only  child  of  this  marriage  was  Samuel  J.  Henderson. 
He  died  in  the  room  in  wdiich  he  was  born  forty-eight  years  before,  and  in  the 
same  room  in  which  his  grandfather.  Dr.  Jones,  breathed  his  last. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Henderson,  Dr.  Jones,  having  been  deprived  by 
death  of  his  estimable  wife,  left  the  old  homestead  to  reside  at  Lynganoir  with 
his  widowed  daughter,  Mrs.  Henderson,  who  subsequently  married  the  Rev. 
Theophilus  Harris,  by  whom  she  had  four  daughters — the  late  Mrs.  Griffith, 
Mrs.  Bussier,  Mrs.  Chilton  and  Mrs.  Wilstach.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Harris  resided 
for  the  early  part  of  their  married  life,  during  the  summer  months,  at  the  old 
homestead.  Dr.  Jones  continued  to  live  at  Lynganoir  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  1814.  Mr.  Harris  purchased  the  old  homestead  of  Dr.  Jones  for 
his  son,  Theophilus  Harris,  Mrs.  Harris  giving  Lynganoir  to  her  son,  Samuel 
Jones  Henderson.  At  present  it  is  in  the  possession  of  the  three  daughters  of 
the  late  Samuel  Jones  Henderson,  and  of  his  grandson,  Ralph  Henderson, 
the  latter  having  inherited  the  share  of  his  father,  the  late  Robert  Jones  Hen- 
derson. 

An  old  "  moon  clock  "  keeps  guard  on  the  stairs  and  has  long  done  duty. 
It  reminds  one  of  Longfellow's  poem,  "  The  Old  Clock  on  the  Stairs  " : 


BUSTLETON.  483 

"  Through  days  of  sorrow  and  of  mirth, 
Through  days  of  death  and  days  of  birth, 
Through  every  swift  vicissitude 
Of  changeful  time,  unchanged  it  has  stood." 

Old  "  Franklin  "  stoves  in  the  mansion  yet  perpetuate  the  philosopher's 
memory.  A  small  spinning-wheel  for  flax  adorns  the  parlor  and  has  been  in 
the  family  for  several  generations.  In  the  library  are  the  books  and  manu- 
scripts of  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Jones.  I  have  had  the  privilege  of  examining  his 
letters.  He  was  a  sort  of  Bishop  among  the  Baptists,  and  was  much  regarded 
all  over  the  country.  He  was  elected  President  of  what  is  now  Brown  Uni- 
versity, Providence,  R.  I.,  but  declined  the  honor.  In  conjunction  with  Bur- 
gess Allison,  A.  M.,  he  compiled  a  Psalm  and  Hymn  Book,  under  the 
appointment  of  the  Philadelphia  Association.  The  fourth  edition,  before  me, 
was  printed  in  Philadelphia  for  Theophilus  Harris,  by  Joseph  Rakestraw,  in 
A.  D.  1819.     Gypsy  Corner  is  back  of  Lynganoir. 

BELL'S  CORNER. 

This  point,  a  mile  below  Bustleton  on  the  Frankford  Pike,  took  its  name 
from  a  man  named  Bell,  who  kept  a  hotel  there,  but  did  not  own  it.  He 
moved  to  the  West.  There  was  once  a  sign-board  with  a  bell  on  it  at  this 
tavern.  It  is  a  long  stone  building  having  a  piazza.  Of  late  years  Mr.  Mor- 
rison and  others  have  kept  it.  The  owner  lives  in  the  city.  Bell's  Corner 
was  sometimes  styled  Liverpool  and  Seddon's  Mill,  Manchester,  perhaps 
humorously.  The  toll-gate  below  was  long  under  the  faithful  care  of  Comly 
Gilbert.  His  son-in-law,  Mr.  Charles  Cookenback,  now  has  charge  of  it.  The 
*'  Axe-Factory  Road  "  leaves  the  Pike  here  on  the  East,  running  through  a 
pretty  wood  as  it  descends  a  hill. 

ECHO  FARM. 

The  late  David  W.  Prescott,  of  Philadelphia,  owned  "  Echo  Farm."  He 
was  a  shipping  merchant  in  the  West  India  trade  in  Philadelphia,  commenc- 
ing business  in  1819.  He  was  on  North  Delaware  Avenue,  above  Race  Street, 
during  most  of  his  business  life.  Mr.  Prescott  came  from  New  Haven,  Con- 
necticut, his  father  being  James  M.  Prescott,  a  merchant  of  that  city.  The 
lad  grew  up  among  those  beautiful  trees  which  line  the  streets,  and  cause  the 
town  to  be  called  the  City  of  the  Elms.  The  family  were  doubly  related  by 
marriage  to  the  eminent  Roger  Sherman,  Mr.  Prescott  was  also  of  the  family 
of  the  historian  of  the  same  name.  Senator  William  Evarts  and  Judge  and 
Senator  Hoar  were  his  relatives.  He  was  Treasurer  of  the  Philadelphia 
Tract  and  Mission  Society  for  over  forty  years.  In  1851  he  purchased  of  the 
heirs  of  the  younger  Dr.  Bartolette  and  Levi  Dewees  the  property  where  he 
made  his  country-seat.     He  kindly  took  an  interest  in  the  Union  Sunday- 


484  BUSTLETON. 

school  at  Sandiford,  which  is  now  a  Baptist  institution.  His  beautiful  woods 
were  hospitably  opened  to  various  Sunday-schools  for  their  summer  festivals, 
and  in  later  years  the  Sunday-school  of  St.  Luke's  Episcopal  Church  often 
sought  this  shady  retreat  by  the  invitation  of  his  widow.  Mr.  Prescott  died 
in  1874,  and  was  buried  at  Ronaldson's  Graveyard.  He  worked  in  Sunday- 
school  from  the  age  of  nineteen  to  that  of  seventy-four,  and  was  engaged  in 
Clinton  Street  (Immanuel)  Sunday-school  when  he  died  with  his  Christian 
armor  on.  The  church  is  at  the  corner  of  Tenth  and  Clinton  Streets.  Mr- 
Prescott  built  the  fine  large  brown  house,  with  its  ample  piazza,  where  Mrs. 
Prescott  and  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Faxon,  with  her  family,  reside  in  summer. 
He  also  erected  the  farmhouse  and  out-buildings. 

THE  BARTOLETTE  FARM. 

The  next  property  below  is  the  old  stone  dwelling  of  Edward  Bartolette 
and  his  sister  Sarah.  The  part  of  the  house  toward  the  city  is  lower 
than  the  upper  section.  It  was  built  in  1797.  The  parents  of  the  brother 
and  sister  mentioned  were  named  William  and  Mary,  while  the  grandparents 
were  Dr.  John  and  Katy  Bartolette.  The  grandfather  is  said  to  have  taken  a 
very  large  apple,  such  as  country  people  love  to  preserve,  to  Lafayette,  and 
presented  it  to  him  at  Holmesburg  in  A.  D.  1824,  where  the  General  received 
the  man  warmly,  who  had  French  blood  in  his  veins.  A  brother  of  Edward 
and  Sarah  Bartolette  lives  at  Spencerville,  Montgomery  County,  Maryland, 
and  thither  they  are  about  to  remove.  Mr.  Spencer,  a  wheelwright  who  lived 
in  Mr.  Dedaker's  house,  moved  to  Maryland,  as  well  as  the  Search  family  of 
Bustleton,  who  were  relatives  of  the  Spencers.  Mr.  Ackland,  who  lives  on  the 
Oxford  Pike  near  Frankford,  has  bought  the  old  place  with  its  old-fashioned 
house  and  expects  to  live  here.  I  believe  that  it  is  proposed  to  cultivate  flow- 
ers on  the  farm.  Dr.  John  Bartolette  practised  medicine  here  for  many  years. 
He  died  at  this  place  and  was  buried  in  the  Friends'  graveyard  at  Frankford. 
The  original  family  were  French  people,  perhaps  Huguenots.  As  Protestants 
they  fled  from  France  to  Germany  under  a  danger  of  persecution.  Thence 
they  went  to  England,  where  the  "  De  "  was  dropped  from  their  name.  They 
came  over  with  the  De  Bennevilles,  who  were  leading  residents  of  Milestown, 
They  were  related  to  them  by  marriage.  The  wife  of  Dr.  John  Bartolette  was 
of  the  Cornell  family,  and  owned  the  Saul  properties  near  Sandiford.  Eunice 
Ellis,  widow,  daughter  of  Benjamin  Ashton,  Sr.,  conveyed  the  Bell's  Corner 
property  to  John  Bartolette  in  1795.  The  Doctor,  I  notice,  by  some  writings 
in  the  family,  was  once  assessor.  In  1748  Joseph  Ashton  deeded  the  place  to 
Isaac  Ashton.  In  1727  John  Ashton,  grandson  of  Joseph,  deeded  it  to  Joseph 
Ashton.  Next  beyond  this  property  is  Mr.  Washington  Ferrell's  well-kept 
farm.  He  carries  on  trucking  in  a  scientific  manner,  and  is  well  versed  in  the 
value  of  fertilizers  in  improving  crops. 


BUSTLETON.  485 

The  pleasant  looking,  long  farmhouse  just  below  the  toll-gate  at  Bell's  Cor- 
ner, where  Gustavus  Engle  resided  several  years,  and  where  his  brothers  spend 
their  summers,  was  formerly  a  hotel.  It  was,  in  old  times,  when  called  "  The 
Grove,"  owned  by  Samuel  Swift,  a  Philadelphian,  the  fifth  son  of  Joseph  and 
Margaret  Swift,  born  in  Philadelphia,  January  12th,  1771.  After  graduating 
at  college,  he  studied  law  with  Judge  Yeates,  of  Lancaster,  Penna.  He  mar- 
ried Margaret  Shippen,  daughter  of  Joseph  and  Jennie  Shippen,  on  the  11th 
of  February,  A.  D.  1795.  She  was  born  May  17th,  1773,  and  died  June  2d, 
1809,  aged  thirty-six  years  and  sixteen  days.  She  was  buried  in  the  yard  of 
Trinity  Church,  Oxford.  The  children  were :  Margaret  McCall,  who  mar- 
ried John  Shippen  ;  William  ;  Mary,  who  married  M.  Brooke  Buckley ;  Joseph 
who  married  Eliza  M.  Willing ;  George,  who  died  in  infancy;  Samuel,  who 
married  Mary  Royer;  Elizabeth  Shippen;  John,  dying  in  infancy;  Sarah 
Bardley,  and  Edwin,  who  reside  in  Philadelphia.  Jane  G.  Swift,  another 
daughter,  married  John  Swift,  though  they  were  not  related. 

Samuel  Swift  bought  the  property  named  and  built  or  enlarged  the  house. 
He  died  in  Germantown.  Mr.  Edwin  Swift  sold  the  property  to  Mr.  Engle, 
about  1844  or  1845.  Samuel  Swift  spent  his  life,  from  the  time  he  was  a  young 
man  to  three  years  before  his  death,  on  the  Bustleton  farm,  and  most  of  the 
family  were  born  there,  and  those  that  have  passed  away  have  generally  been 
buried  from  this  old  home. 

Gustavus  Engle  lives  in  a  neat  cottage  a  little  above  the  residence  of  his 
brothers,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Turnpike. 

GEORGE  ERNEST  SCHLOSSER. 

This  eminent  man  died  in  1809,  at  the  age  of  eighty-seven.  He  was  a 
Moravian,  and  the  Treasurer  of  the  First  Moravian  Church  in  Philadelphia, 
and  a  vestryman.  He  is  often  mentioned  in  Abraham  Ritter's  History  of  the 
Moravian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  He  was  known  as  a  prominent  and 
wealthy  merchant  in  the  cit3\  His  father  was  a  Lutheran  clergyman  in  Nas- 
sau (Sarrbreck).  George  Schlosser  and  his  son,  Jacob  H.,  who  died  in  1828, 
were  buried  at  Franklin  and  Vine  Streets,  in  the  Moravian  graveyard.  George 
Schlosser  emigrated  from  Germany  to  New  York  in  1751,  but  remained  in 
that  city  only  a  short  time,  coming  to  Philadelphia  the  same  year.  During 
the  yellow  fever  epidemic,  he  and  Stephen  Girard  and  Adam  Helm  did  a 
Christlike  work.  Mr.  Helm  was  a  Moravian.  These  three,  in  A.  D.  1793, 
volunteered  to  care  for  the  sick  in  the  Bush  Hill  Hospital.  Mr.  Helm  had  the 
inner  work,  and  the  others  the  outer  work.  (See  History  of  the  Yellow  Fever, 
by  Matthew  Carey.) 

In  Christopher  Marshall's  Diary  (page  181,  Historical  Society  of  Pennsyl- 
vania Library),  is  the  following :  "  By  account  from  George  Schlosser,  in  a 
letter  from  his  daughter  at  Bustleton,  it  was  seven  of  our  wounded  prisoners 


486  BUSTLETON. 

that  the  English  burnt  some  days  past  near  the  Crooked  Billet."     May  16th, 
A.  D.  1778,  is  the  date  of  the  entry. 

For  an  account  of  the  burning  of  buckwheat  straw,  see  William  J.  Buck's 
History  of  Mooreland,  near  the  close  of  his  description  of  that  section.  The 
Bustleton  place  referred  to  is  a  farm  owned  by  Mr.  John  Biddle  on  the  Turn- 
pike, a  mile  below  Bustleton.  Miss  Eliza  Schlosser,  of  this  family,  now 
resides  in  the  village. 

John  Biddle's  truck  farm,  with  its  cosy  farm-house,  is  on  the  Bustleton 
Turnpike  just  above  Bell's  Corner.  Mr.  Biddle  came  to  this  country  from 
England,  and  sometimes  runs  back  to  his  old  home  to  visit  early  scenes. 

His  brother-in-law,  Robert  Nichols,  lives  nearly  opposite,  in  a  large  and 
roomy  dwelling,  and  carries  on  trucking  on  an  extensive  scale.  Both  farms 
are  noted  in  this  section,  and  a  large  amount  of  glass  sash  shines  on  the 
roadside,  and  helps  to  make  summer  in  winter  among  the  vegetables  be- 
neath it. 

My  friend,  John  W.  Jordan,  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania, 
wrote  a  memoir  of  George  Schlosser  for  the  Moravian,  February  6th,  1789 
Mr.  Schlosser  was  born  at  St.  Arnual,  October  27,  A.  D.  1714.  The  maiden 
name  of  his  mother  was  Sophia  Johanetta'Margaretta  Ellwerth.  When  he 
was  an  infant,  his  parents  moved  to  Strassburg,  where  his  little  sister  let  him 
fall  from  a  bridge  into  the  River  Rhine.  Some  w^omen  washing  near  by  res- 
cued him.  At  fifteen  the  lad  was  confirmed  and  became  a  communicant.  He 
was  apprenticed  to  a  trade  in  Pforzhem.  .  He  was  interested  in  the  Moravians 
through  Zinzendorf's  discourses,  and  by  acquaintanceship  with  Henry  Nitsch- 
mann,  and  became  a  Moravian  and  emigrated  to  Bethlehem,  Pa.  He  after- 
ward was  a  successful  merchant  in  Philadelphia,  and  was  a  friend  of  the  new 
Government  in  the  Revolution,  and  a  meml^er  of  the  Provincial  Conventions 
of  1774  and  1775,  and  the  Convention  of  1776,  and  the  Committee  of  Obser- 
vation for  Philadelphia  in  1775.  When  the  British  held  the  city  he  went  to 
Lancaster,  and  after  the  evacuation  "  returned  to  his  country-seat  near  Bus- 
tleton.' He  was  a  trustworthy  man.  In  1778  he  advanced  £2000  when  the 
State  Treasury  was  "  very  low  and  the  necessities  of  the  army  very  great." 
This  was  repaid. 

In  1785,  in  the  reorganization  of  the  Moravian  congregation  in  Philadel- 
phia, Mr.  Schlosser  was  a  member  of  the  Standing  Committee  and  collector 
for  the  Sustentation  Fund.  He  was  a  manager  of  the  House  of  Employment, 
He  lived  for  years  on  Second  Street  near  Vine.  He  was  an  early  riser,  an 
active  business  man  and  a  philanthropist.  He  died  in  1802,  on  the  25th  of 
February,  and  was  buried  in  the  Moravian  Cemetery  on  Race  Street,  having 
been  one  of  those  who  originally  subscribed  for  its  purchase.  He  was  aged 
eighty-seven  years,  nine  months  and  twenty-nine  days,  according  to  the  epi- 
taph. Another  sketch  of  Mr.  Schlosser  is  in  tne  Pennsylvania  Magazine  of 
History,  Vol.  IV,  page  232. 


BUSTLETON.  487 

SANDIFORD. 

This  hamlet  on  the  Bustleton  Pike  commemorates  Ralph  Sandiford,  His 
grave  is  near  a  pear-tree  on  the  place  formerly  owned  by  Jesse  Griffith.  He 
was  a  Friend,  and  an  early  protestor  in  writing  against  enslaving  negroes. 
(See  Janney's  History  of  the  Friends,  Vol.  Ill,  page  241.)  See  Watson's  An- 
nals of  Philadelphia,  Vol.  II,  page  74  for  his  epitaph.  Also,  on  page  265, 
reference  is  made  to  Rev.  Peter  Kalm,  the  Swedish  traveller,  who  speaks  of 
the  only  free  negroes  in  Philadelphia  in  1748  as  having  been  freed  by  a 
Quaker,  probably  meaning  Sandiford,  who  freed  all  his  slaves  in  1733,  which 
Watson  thinks  was  probably  "  the  first  instance  of  the  kind  known  in  our 
annals."  Slave  "  drivers  "  used  to  pass  through  Philadelphia  to  other  colo- 
nies. On  the  last  days  of  fairs  the  slaves  were  allowed  to  have  jubilees  in 
Washington  Square.  (See  the  last  reference  in  Watson.)  Sandiford  was  a 
merchant,  and  had  visited  the  West  Indies  and  seen  cruelty  in  slavery  there. 
When  I  visited  this  spot,  the  stone  had  been  removed  and  was  in  the  barn. 
The  neglect  of  the  dead  in  this  rushing  country  is  very  sad. 

In  passing  down  the  private  road  publicly  used  opposite  the  Sandiford  store 
and  post-office,  Mr.  Byers's  house  is  on  the  right,  near  the  blacksmith  and 
wheelwright  shops.  Then  comes  Mr.  Samuel  Conn's  large  farm  and  ample 
farm-house  and  large,  new  barn,  and,  on  the  other  side,  another  farm  owned 
by  him. 

Then  we  reach  David  Saul's  large-  farm-house  on  the  right,  while  on  the 
opposite  side,  at  the  end  of  the  road,  is  the  farm-house  of  Benjamin  and 
George  Saul,  his  nephews. 

Joseph  Saul  bought  a  large  tract  of  land  here.  A  part  of  David  Saul's  farm 
was  purchased  of  Joseph  Lewis.  The  farm  was  left  by  Joseph  Saul  to  his 
sons  David,  Joseph  and  James.  Joseph  died  in  Holmesburg,  and  is  buried 
in  Emmanuel  Episcopal  Churchyard.  James  and  his  wife  died  on  this  farm. 
The  Saul  family  are  of  English  descent.  David  Saul  is  over  eighty  years  of 
age. 

The  Carwithen  farm,  above  the  Sandiford  post-oflBce,  which  became  the 
property  of  Corson  Griffith,  was  owned  by  the  Dungan  family,  and  previously 
was  a  Walton  property.  Mr.  Green's  house,  on  a  pretty  sloping  lawn  above 
Sandy  Run,  has  long  been  held  by  the  family.  John  Sale's  large  stone  house 
on  the  upper  side  of  the  Run  belonged  to  the  McDermont  family,  of  whom  he 
bought  it.  It  is  said  to  have  been  built  by  a  friend  of  Sandiford.  Mr.  Sale 
has  lately  enlarged  and  greatly  improved  it. 

Mr.  Samuel  Wilson,  whose  two-story  white  house,  with  its  piazza  in  fronts 
is  approached  through  an  avenue  of  trees  at  Sandiford,  was  one  of  the  first 
seven  subscribers  to  the  Germantown  Telegraph  when  Major  Freas  started  the 
paper.  He  then  lived  on  Fisher's  Lane.  Charles  Snyder's  long,  stone  farm- 
house, with  its  large  trees  as  a  way-mark,  once  belonged  to  that  good  man, 
Rev.  George  Scheetz,  rector  of  Trinity  Church,  Oxford,  and  All  Saints'  Churchy 


488  BUSTLETON. 

Torresdale.  His  study  was  a  little  stone  building  standing  in  the  rear  of  the 
mansion.  The  Young  family  live  nearly  opposite  this  house,  while  the  Rob- 
erts and  Rupert  families  own  farms  which  open  on  the  Castor  Road  to  the 
west.  The  Castor  Road  is  named  from  a  family  who  lived  in  the  valley  on 
the  right  hand,  before  reaching  the  Levick  farm  in  going  to  Frankford. 

On  the  Bustleton  Pike  the  Wheat  Sheaf  Tavern  is  below  Sandiford.  It  is 
no  longer  a  tavern.  The  large  public  school  with  its  ample  playground  is  at 
this  point,  while  the  Poor  House  and  Holmesburg  Water  Works  open  upon 
the  Township  Line  Road. 

The  Water  Works  are  in  a  quiet  and  pretty  spot.  Sandy  Run  gives  the 
water,  David  Saul's  place  affording  its  resources,  as  the  stream  passes  through 
it.  The  water  has  lately  been  introduced  to  Holmesburg,  and  is  highly  appre- 
ciated for  its  excellence. 

RALPH  SANDIFORD. 

In  A.  D.,  1815,  the  "  Lives  of  Benjamin  Lay  and  Ralph  Sandiford,"  by  Rob- 
erts Vaux,  in  one  small  volume,  appeared  in  Philadelphia,  published  by  Solo- 
mon W.  Conrad,  and  printed  by  W.  Brown.  We  highly  appreciate  the  good 
deed  of  the  author  in  striving  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  these  early  philan- 
thropists, and  are  continuing  his  work  in  this  effort  to  bring  the  history 
before  new  readers.  For  an  account  of  Benjamin  Lay,  see  "  Branchtown,"  on 
the  York  Road,  in  this  present  volume,  which  endeavors  to  bring  out  the 
worthy  characters  of  this  region. 

Ralph  Sandiford  was  born  in  England,  at  Liverpool,  A.  D.,  1693.  He  came 
to  Philadelphia  when  young,  and  engaged  in  commerce,  visiting  many  islands 
in  the  West  Indies,  and  a  number  of  provinces  on  the  Continent  of  America. 
His  compassion  was  aroused  toward  slaves  suffering  from  cruelty.  This  kind- 
hearted  man  reflected  on  men's  duties  and  obligations  as  guided  by  reason 
and  religion,  and  determined  in  his  own  mind  that  slavery  was  contrary  to 
man's  rights,  and  ''.the  precepts  of  the  Author  of  Christianity."  To  further  this 
idea  he  toiled  through  life. 

In  his  voyages  for  trading  he  met  with  great  suffering  and  peril.  He  once 
"  was  robbed  by  pirates,  and  escaped  but  with  his  life."  The  vessel  that  bore 
him  once  "  foundered  in  a  storm.  Himself  and  the  ship's  company  embarked 
in  the  long  boat,  and  were  eight  days'  tossed  on  the  ocean  without  food ;  they 
succeeded,  however,  in  making  the  land  to  the  southward  of  the  Gulf  of 
Florida,  and  their  lives  were  thus  saved."  In  voyaging  to  New  York  "  he 
was  again  wrecked,  and,  at  great  hazard,  reached  one  of  the  Bahama  Islands," 
where  he  remained  some  months,  and  then  proceeded  to  Charleston,  S.  C. 
The  poor  "stranger  in  a  strange  land,"  like  Moses  (Exodus  II,  22),  "  was  un- 
expectedly introduced  to  a  person  of  great  wealth  and  influence  in  that  city, 
who  proposed  to  engage  his  services  in  a  commercial  enterprise  which  he 
had  projected,  and  which  would  have  realized  to  Sandiford  a  large  sum  of 
money." 


BUSTLETON.  489 

The  gentleman  was  the  richest  person  in  the  province,  and  his  riches  arose 
from  slavery,  but  Sandiford,  though  grateful  to  the  open-hearted  man,  could 
not  accept  his  offer,  lest  he  should  lessen  his  "  future  happiness,"  as  he  had 
seen  enough  of  the  miseries  of  slavery,  and  so  he  hastened  to  Pennsylvania, 
where  he  says  that  the  Lord  gave  him  substance,  though  a  fire  consumed  his 
property,  and  he  escaped  wonderfully,  when  some  were  burned,  "  in  all  which," 
he  says,  "  I  saw  the  hand  of  the  Lord,  who  has  again  raised  me  to  fullness  and 
plenty,  which  I  noM'  mention  to  commemorate  His  providence." 

From  his  reaching  Pennsylvania  to  1729,  he  zealously  wrought  through 
his  varying  fortunes  to  proclaim  his  views  on  slavery  among  those  whom  he 
met,  and  he  sought  discussion  concerning  these  things. 

In  his  thirty-sixth  year  he  issued  a  book  entitled  "  The  Mystery  of  Iniquity 
in  a  Brief  Examination  of  the  Practice  of  the  Times." 

The  Chief  Justice  of  the  province  threatened  penalties  of  severity  if  the 
author  allowed  its  circulation.  He,  however,  gave  the  work  away  where 
he  thought  it  would  be  useful.  Those  whose  interests  were  touched,  or 
whose  unjust  practices  were  displayed  "in  the  correct  though  affecting  picture 
which  he  gave  of  slavery,"  opposed  him.  However,  the  book  was  an  efficient 
aid  "  in  advancing  the  author's  opinion."  He  gave  selections,  additional  to 
his  own  sound  sentiments,  from  authors  to  support  his  philanthropic  ideas, 
showing  research  and  reflection  on  his  part.  The  book  "  exhibited  a  mind  at 
once  fortified  by  manly  firmness,  and  influenced  by  Christian  solicitude  and 
benevolence." 

]\Ir.  Vaux  quotes  the  affecting  concluding  words  of  Sandiford's  volume.  He 
refers  to  the  wailing  of  Jeremiah  the  Prophet  (Lamentations,  I,  12) — "  Behold 
and  see  if  there  be  any  sorrow  like  unto  my  sorrow,"  declaring,  as  God  was  his 
witness,  that  he  would  rather  have  wailed  "  in  the  wilderness,"  were  it  God's 
will,  than  to  have  protested  against  that  "which  promotes  idleness  and 
haughtiness  in  the  rich,  and  hinders  the  poor  from  bread,  which  brings  evils 
in  the  commonwealth."  His  burning  heart  prompted  him  to  act  "  for  the 
welfare  of  all,  to  give  forth  this  testimony "  to  clear  himself  and  those 
addressed,  "  before  my  great  Creator."  He  warns  men  of  duty  in  the  thought 
of  God's  tribunal,  and  asks  not  the  "  striking  at  any  creature,  but  at  the  evil 
in  all,  that  the  cause  may  be  removed,  and  that  the  creation  may  be  governed 
by  love,  and  this  practice  disavowed  in  all  mankind,  and  especially  by  all 
that  name  the  name  of  Jesus,  that  every  creature  under  the  whole  heavens  may 
be  delivered  from  oppression,  as  well  as  Ralph  Sandiford." 

For  the  greater  part  of  two  years  he  was  constantly  engaged  in  combating 
objections  against  the  arguments  in  his  address.  His  health  weakened  in  the 
hostility,  and  he  left  Philadelphia,  and,  in  1731,  bought  a  little  farm  "about 
nine  miles  in  a  northeasterly  direction  from  Philadelphia,  upon  the  side  of 
the  road  leading  from  that  place  to  the  village  of  Bustleton.  Here  he  had  a 
log  house  erected,  and  otherwise  improved  his  little  property,  and  upon  this 


490  BUSTLETON. 

spot  he  lived  in  patriarchal  simplicity  during  the  remainder  of  his  innocent 
and  useful  life." 

The  place  to  which  Mr.  Vaux  refers  is  on  the  Bustleton  Turnpike,  about 
two  miles  below  Bustleton,  between  that  place  and  Frankford.  It  is  now 
within  the  city  limits,  though  a  rural  district. 

The  book  under  consideration  describes  Ralph  Sandiford  as  small,  with  an 
intelligent  and  benignant  countenance.  He  opposed  conscientiously  luxury 
which  had  appeared  in  Pennsylvania.  His  clothing  was  simply  made,  "  and 
was  of  the  natural  color  of  the  material  of  which  it  was  composed.  He  was 
hospitable,  and  entertained  those  who  visited  him  with  all  the  liberality  that 
was  consistent  with  his  primitive  mode  of  living.  He  was  kind  and  chari- 
table to  the  poor,  and  assisted  them  when  opportunities  presented,  with  his 
advice  as  well  as  from  his  purse.  Though  he  had  many  enemies  in  conse- 
quence of  his  opposition  to  slave-keeping,  yet  it  was  universally  acknowledged 
that  he  was  an  upright  and  honest  man." 

In  1732,  disease  "  confined  him  to  his  bed.  Perceiving  that  there  was  no 
prospect  of  his  recovery,  he  calmly  waited  the  awful  moment  which  would 
forever  terminate  his  sorrows  and  his  sufferings." 

He  had  "considerable  property,"  but  no  wife  or  children  to  heir  it.  His 
will  was  made  "  on  the  7th  day  of  the  3d  month  (March),  1733,"  in  Lower 
Dublin,  Philadelphia  County.  He  styles  himself  "merchant,"  and,  piously, 
adds,  "being  sick  in  body,  but  of  sound  mind  and  memory  (praised  be  the 
Lord),  do  make  this  my  last  will  and  testament,  in  manner  following:  First  I 
commit  my  soul  into  the  hands  of  Almighty  God,  my  Maker,  hoping  through 
the  meritorious  death  and  passion  of  Jesus  Christ,  my  only  Saviour  and 
Redeemer,  to  be  everlastingly  saved.  Also,  I  commit  my  body  to  the  earth, 
to  be  therein  decently  buried  at  the  discretion  of  my  executors,  hereinafter 
nominated." 

He  then  specifies  his  wishes  "  as  to  what  worldly  effects  it  hath  pleased  the 
Lord  to  bestow  upon  me,"  after  debts  and  funeral  expenses  are  met.  He  gives 
"  to  the  meeting  of  the  men  and  women  of  the  people  called  Quakers,  at  Phil- 
adelphia, each  ten  pounds  for  the  use  of  the  poor.  I  also  give  to  the  Church 
of  England,  for  the  use  of  the  poor,  ten  pounds."  (This  was  Christ  Church, 
in  Second  Street.)  Legacies  of  small  amount  are  added,  "  to  Joseph  Chettam 
and  his  sister  Hannah,"  and  "  to  Samuel  Harrison,  of  New  York."  He  gave 
to  his  brother  James  his  watch,  and  to  Phoebe  Boyles,  Sewell's  History."  He 
left  his  housekeeper,  Mary  Peace,  a  life  estate  in  the  farm  on  which  he 
resided,  and  to  his  servant,  Susanna  Morris,  "  a  life  estate  in  another  planta- 
tion which  he  owned  in  Cheltenham,  and,  at  their  death  directs  all  his 
landed  estate  to  be  sold,  and  the  proceeds  remitted  to  his  sisters,  or  their  legal 
representatives,  in  England,  to  be  equally  divided  among  them." 

Sandiford  died  March  28th,  A.  D.  1738,  at  the  age  of  forty  years. 

"  His  boidy  was  buried  in  a  field,  on  his  own  farm,  near  the  house  where  his 
terrestrial  existence  was  peacefully  terminated." 


BUSTLETON.  491 

His  executors  "  bad  the  grave  enclosed  with  a  balustrade  fence,  and  caused  a 
stone  to  be  placed  at  the  head  of  it,  thus  inscribed : 

"  '  In  Memory  of 

RALPH  SANDIFORD, 

Son  of    John  Sandiford, 

of  Liverpool. 

He  Bore  a  Testimony  against  the 

Negro  Trade,  and  Dyed  ye 

28th  of  ye  3d  Month, 

1733,  Aged  40 

years.' " 

When  Mr.  Vaux  wrote,  the  farm  was  "  occupied  by  S.  Griffiths.  It  is  yet  in 
possession  of  the  family.  Some  owners  of  land  in  the  hamlet  proposed  to  call 
it '  Sandiford.' "  "  To  do  so,"  he  says,  "  would  certainly  be  highly  creditable  to 
the  feelings  of  those  who  should  thus  manifest  their  respect  for  the  memory 
of  an  individual  so  worthy  as  Ralph  Sandiford." 

This  has  been  done,  and  his  memory  is  thus  perpetuated. 

Mr.  Vaux  "  copied  the  epitaph  from  the  stone,  which  was  found  broken  in 
two  pieces,  laying  near  a  fence,  not  far  from  the  place  where  it  was  originally 
erected."  I,  myself,  saw  the  stone  in  the  barn.  The  grave  is  not  far  from  the 
turnpike. 

Mr.  Vaux  adds  that  Sandiford's  housekeeper  and  his  servant  were  buried 
near  him,  and  that,  "  for  many  years  after  their  death,  care  was  taken  to  pre- 
serve all  the  graves  from  violation."  Afterward,  "  the  fence  was  removed." 
A  pear  tree  is  a  mark  for  the  grave,  perhaps,  according  to  the  suggestion  of 
Mr.  Vaux,  who  notes  his  advice  "  that  a  tree  should  be  planted."  Some  of 
the  neighbors  strove  to  have  a  wall  built  around  the  grave. 

Our  interesting  little  volume  closes  thus :  ''  But  whether  neglect  or  venera- 
tion be  the  lot  of  the  mouldering  frame  of  the  pious  and  enlightened  Sandi- 
ford, it  is  a  precious  consolation  to  believe  that  the  great  principles  which  he 
avowed  and  advocated  are  rising  into  dominion  among  mankind  in  propor- 
tion to  the  rapidly  diffusing  light  of  Christianity,  and  promise,  like  the  holy 
precepts  of  that  religion,  to  be  indestructible  and  eternal." 

It  seems  fitting  for  me  to  add  that  Longfellow's  poem,  "  The  Good  Part  That 
Shall  Not  be  Taken  Away,"  paints  a  similar  character  to  Sandiford  in  a 
Southern  lady  who  freed  her  slaves,  and  then  taught  a  school  to  support  her- 
self who  is  thus  described  with  "  her  angelic  looks  "  among  her  female  pupils : 

"  She  reads  to  them  at  eventide, 
Of  One  who  came  to  save  ; 
'  .      To  cast  the  captive's  chains  aside, 

And  liberate  the  slave. 


492  "         BUSTLETON. 

"And  oft  the  blessed  time  fortells 
When  all  men  shall  be  free ; 
And  musical  as  silver  bells, 
Their  falling  chains  shall  be. 

"And  following  her  beloved  Lord, 
In  decent  poverty, 
She  makes  her  life  one  sweet  record 
And  deed  of  charity. 

"  For  she  was  rich  and  gave  up  all, 
To  break  the  iron  bands, 
Of  those  who  waited  in  her  hall, 
And  labored  in  her  lands. 

"  Long  since  beyond  the  Southern  Sea, 
Their  outbound  sails  have  sped, 
While  she,  in  meek  humility. 
Now  earns  her  daily  bread. 

**  It  is  their  prayers,  which  never  cease. 
That  clothe  her  with  such  grace ; 
Their  blessing  is  the  light  of  peace 
That  shines  upon  her  face." 

REV.  JAMES  LLOYD  BRECK,  D.  D. 

The  following,  from  The  Young  Churchman  (Milwaukee,  October  2d,  A.  D,, 
1892),  signed  "  F.  C.  M.,"  gives  an  account  of  a  noble  Christian  missionary 
who  lived  on  the  Kuhn  farm,  now  owned  by  Mr.  Saul.  Mr.  Breck  had  assisted 
in  founding  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Nashotah,  Wisconsin : 

"  In  1850,  Mr.  Breck  returned  for  the  first  time  to  the  east,  to  solicit  funds. 
He  was  enthusiastically  received  everywhere,  Nashotah's  fame  having  been 
well  spread.  He  accomplished  his  purpose  to  some  extent,  but  concluded 
finally  that  the  system  under  which  he  desired  to  work  could  no  longer  be 
tried  at  Nashotah.  Still  believing  in  the  system,  and  anxious  to  do  more 
work  for  the  Church,  he  resolved,  however,  with  the  permission  of  Bishop 
Kemper,  to  resign  his  work  there,  and  to  penetrate  still  further  West,  into 
the  territory  of  Minnesota,  which  was  under  the  same  Bishop.  Only  one 
clergyman  of  the  Church  was  then  in  the  territory — the  Rev.  Mr.  Gear,  chap- 
lain at  Fort  Snelling. 

"  So  a  new  associate  mission  was  formed,  the  Rev.  Timothy  Wilcoxsen,  of 
Connecticut,  and  the  Rev.  John  Austin  Merrick,  of  Philadelphia,  uniting  with 
Mr.  Breck.  They  made  a  short  stay  at  Nashotah,  where  a  touching  farewell  ser- 
vice was  held,  and  then  pushed  on.  Sunday,  June  23d,  1850,  was  spent  at 
LaCrosse,  Wisconsin,  on  the  Mississippi  River,  where  was  held  the  first  church 
service  ever  celebrated  there.  Next  morning  they  crossed  over  into  Minne- 
sota Territory,  where  they  reared  a  rustic  cross,  and  celebrated  the  Holy 
Eucharist. 


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BUSTLETON.  495 

"  The  missioners  located  at  Saint  Paul,  and  at  once  purchased  two  acres  of 
land  overlooking  the  city,  for  which  Mr.  Breck  notes  that  they  paid  '  the  ex- 
travagant cost  of  $50  per  acre,'  The  tract  is  now  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  and 
worth  a  fabulous  amount.  From  their  lieadquarters  at  St.  Paul,  they  made  mis- 
sionary journeys  to  all  the  country  around,  and  established  the  Church  every- 
where, extending  their  care  even  as  far  as  La  Crosse,  two  hundred  miles 
distant  by  river.  On  Good  Friday,  1851,  Mr.  Breck  notes  with  thankfulness 
that  'there  are  now  eight  communicants  in  Saint  Paul.'  They  had  also 
built  a  little  church,  which  Bishop  Kemper  consecrated  in  August. 

"  In  1852,  work  was  commenced  among  the  Indians — principally  Chippewas. 
So  promising  did  this  become,  that  Mr.  Breck  removed  from  Saint  Paul,  and 
w^ent  among  the  Indians,  locating  his  home  at  Kahgeeashkoonsikag — which 
seems  a  euphonious  and  easy  name,  when  we  learn  that  another  mission  was 
planted  at  Kahsahgawsquahjeomokag,  and  that  Mr.  Breck  frequently  dated 
his  letters  from  Nigigwaunowahsahgahigaw  \  A  number  of  churches  were 
founded  in  the  Indian  field,  and  many  converts  made.  Mr.  Breck  finally 
retired  altogether  from  the  white  field,  leaving  that  to  others.  He  gave  his 
whole  attention  to  the  work  among  the  Indians.  In  1855,  Mr.  Breck  married 
Miss  Jane  Maria  Mills,  a  worker,  like  himself,  among  the  Indians. 

"  No  theological  work  had  heretofore  been  attempted  in  Minnesota,  owing 
to  a  wish  of  Dr.  Breck  not  to  appear  to  antagonize  Nashotah  in  any  way. 
But  now  the  time  seemed  ripe  when  young  men  might  be  gathered  in  Minne- 
sota and  be  instructed  for  the  Church's  ministry.  Accordingly,  the  educa- 
tional institutions  of  Faribault  were  founded.  With  these  in  view  Mr.  Breck 
again  visited  the  East.  He  organized  in  Faribault  a  university  and  theo- 
logical seminary,  and  also  kept  the  oversight  of  the  work  among  the  Indians. 
Bishop  Whipple  was  consecrated  as  Bishop  of  Minnesota  in  1859,  and  was 
heartily  interested  in  Faribault,  establishing  his  Cathedral  there.  Mr.  Breck 
became  a  D.  D.  in  1860." 

This  good  man  was  afterward  engaged  in  educational  work  in  California, 
and  his  son.  Rev.  W.  A.  M.  Breck,  now  lives  at  San  Buena  Ventura  in  that 
State.  The  brother  of  J.  Lloyd  Breck,  Rev.  Dr.  Chas.  Breck,  was  long  rector 
of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  Wilmington,  Del.  The  missionary  attended 
school  on  the  Welsh  Road,  in  the  school-house  described  in  this  volume  by 
John  P.  Verree,  and  should  be  an  example  to  Bustleton  boys. 

REV.  DR.  R.  J.  WRIGHT. 

This  genial  and  scholarl}^  man  was,  for  years,  my  friend  and  near  neighbor, 
and  it  is  pleasant  to  recall  his  kindly  generosity  to  the  poor,  and  his  warm 
heart.  His  studious  habits  were  remarkable,  and  his  bright  mind  was  ever 
active.  He  lived,  for  a  time,  with  his  father  in  the  suburb  of  Frankford 
near  Strawberry  Hill,  the  residence  of  William  Welsh,  and  afterward  he 
resided  on  the  Delaware  at  Tacony,  before  purchasing  Tunis  J.  Way's  fine 


496  BUSTLETON. 

old  mansion  next  to  St.  Luke's  Church,  where  he  died.  His  remarkable 
library  was  largely  composed  of  books  pertaining  to  theology  and  the  Holy 
Scriptures.  This  benevolent  man  left  legacies  to  the  Episcopal  and  Metho- 
dist churches.  Mrs.  Koons,  Mr.  Wright's  sister,  resides  in  Philadelphia  with 
her  children,     I  quote  the  following  sketch  : 

OBITUARY. 

"  Rev.  Robert  Joseph  Wright,  LL.D.,  died  at  his  residence  at  Bustleton,  on 
Saturday.  He  was  born  in  this  city,  January  17th,  1824.  At  the  age  of 
fifteen  he  entered  the  sub-freshman's  class  at  Lafayette  College,  but  two  years 
later  left  and  entered  his  father's  umbrella  factory  on  Market  Street. 

"  When  eighteen  years  old,  he  joined  the  German  Reformed  Church, 
although  most  of  his  relatives  were  members  of  the  Hicksite  Friends,  and  re- 
entered Lafayette  College,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1845.  During  his 
college  life  Mr.  Wright  was  very  popular  among  the  students  and  was  elected 
to  the  highest  honors  in  its  societies. 

"  During  his  residence  at  the  college,  Mr.  Wright  became  acquainted  with 
Austin  Craig,  I.  C.  Goff,  and  others,  of  the  Christian  denomination,  in  which 
field  he  afterwards  chiefly  labored.  While  at  college  his  health  broke  down 
to  such  an  extent  that  he  did  not  feel  justified  in  entering  actively  in  the 
ministry,  so  that,  after  his  graduation,  he  accepted  a  partnership  in  his 
father's  and  uncle's  manufactory.  A  few  years  later,  Mr.  Wright's  health 
improved  to  such  an  extent  that  he  entered  Princeton  College  for  the  purpose 
of  studying  for  the  ministry,  but,  his  health  again  breaking  down,  he  was 
compelled  to  withdraw  permanently. 

"  Mr.  Wright  was  a  life-long  student  of  the  Greek  New  Testament ;  was  a 
lay  preacher  in  the  Christian  Church ;  was  the  author  of  '  Principia,  or  the 
Basis  of  Social  Science,'  and  many  other  smaller  publications  on  theology — 
'  Principia '  receiving  favorable  notices  from  Herbert  Spencer  and  many  other 
eminent  scholars. 

"  Mr.  Wright  was  a  trustee  and  non-resident  professor  of  ethics,  metaphysics 
and  church  history  in  the  Christian  Biblical  Institute,  Stanford,  New  York. 
He  received  the  degree  of  LL.  D.  from  Hanover  College,  Indiana." 

The  place  is  now  occupied  by  Andrew  J.  Gideon. 

THE  RYERSS  INFIRMARY  FOR  DUMB  ANIMALS. 

This  is  the  former  home  of  Rev.  Dr.  Jones,  near  Lyngonier.  The  news- 
paper extract  below  shows  the  usefulness  of  this  institution  : 

DUMB    ANIMAL   INFIRMARY. 

"  The  annual  inspection  of  the  Ryerss  Infirmary  for  Dumb  Animals,  at 
Bustleton,  was  made  on  Wednesday  by  the  managers,  and  a  number  of 
invited  guests,  who,  after  a  dinner  at  Burholme,  the  country  seat  of  President 


BUSTLETON.  497 

Ryerss,  near  Fox  Chase,  were  driven  to  the  Infirmary  Farm.  Twenty-seven 
horses  were  found  in  the  fields,  all  more  or  less  affected  with  various  ailments, 
hut  seeming  to  enjoy  life  in  spite  of  their  affiictions.  At  a  given  signal  from 
Superintendent  Whitely,  the  animals  were  called  from  the  field,  and  the  lame 
lialt  and  blind  were  placed  in  the  stalls  for  the  night,  after  having  passed  the 
argus  eye  of  Colonel  Muckle,  the  Vice-President  of  the  Association.  The 
report  of  the  Secretary  showed  that  the  organization  is  rapidly  growing  in 
usefulness.  Since  its  opening,  in  June,  1889,  over  one  hundred  horses  have 
been  cared  for,  and  the  rest  given  them  lias  restored  a  large  number  to  health 
and  activity.  In  no  other  place  in  the  world  is  such  an  institution  known. 
The  officers  are:  Robert  W.  Ryerss,  President;  M.  Richards  Muckle,  Vice- 
President  ;  M.  V.  B.  Davis,  Secretary,  and  James  R.  Booth,  Treasurer." 

This  useful  institution  is  under  the  care  of  the  Pennsylvania  Society  for  the 
Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals.     The  following  is  from  the  report  of  1890  : 

The  Ryerss  Infirmary  has  become  a  most  important  factor  in  humane  work, 
and  during  the  year  a  number  of  disabled  animals  have  been  restored  to 
health  and  vigor  by  rest  and  kind  treatment.  The  main  object  of  this  purely 
charitable  Institution  is  to  provide,  without  cost  to  the  owners,  a  temporary 
home  for  horses  and  mules,  belonging  to  cabmen,  carters,  tradesmen  and 
others,  where  a  few  weeks'  care  and  good  treatment  will  enable  man}'  en- 
feebled animals  to  do  further  work  for  years. 

So  great  has  been  the  demand  for  places,  since  the  opening  of  the  infirmary 
in  June,  1889,  that  six  additional  room}-  box  stalls  have  been  erected,  thus 
increasing  the  capacity  to  accommodations  for  twenty-five  horses. 

We  append  also  the  report  of  A.  D.,  1891 : 

This  noble  institution,  practically  the  only  one  of  its  kind  in  the  world,  has 
become  an  important  agent  in  our  labors,  and  the  pity  is  that  its  capacity  is 
not  ten  times  greater  in  order  to  meet  the  demand  made  by  poor  men  for 
gratuitous  care  and  needed  rest  for  their  jaded  beasts.  To  the  student  of 
humanity,  no  grander  scope  is  afforded  for  thought  or  pen  than  to  note  the 
condition  of  the  horses  when  they  enter  the  infirmary — lame,  decrepit,  with 
head  bowed,  abject  creatures  of  woe — and  when,  a  few  weeks  or  months  later, 
they  pass  out,  with  eyes  brightened,^  nostrils  quivering,  with  suppleness  in 
their  limbs,  and  ready  for  many  days  of  patient  toil  for  their  master — man. 

TRADITIONS. 

» 

The  wife  of  William  Bevan,  in  this  village,  informs  me  that  she  recollects 
that  Sallie  Harmer,  who  once  lived  in  the  house  styled  the  "  Beehive,"  told 
her  that  she  remembered  riding  on  horseback  to  German  town,  to  carry  food 
to  friends  in  the  Revolutionary  army,  and  that  British  soldiers  once  visited  the 
barn  on  the  Breck  place,  and  thrust  their  bayonets  into  the  hay  to  see  if 
American  soldiers  were  concealed  there. 
32 


498  BUSTLETON. 

Mrs.  Bevan's  fatlier,  David  Maguire,  who  lived  just  below  the  school,  kept 
up  a  tradition  that  tlie  hill  where  the  Fayette  Public  School  stands,  was  once 
known  as  Pigeon  Hill,  from  the  abundance  of  those  birds  there.  The  children 
are  now  more  numerous  than  the  birds,  and  they  make  music  in  their  games 
and  sports  that  vies  with  that  of  the  birds.  The  wife  of  David  Maguire  is  still 
living.     She  resides  with  a  daughter  in  Frankford. 

Several  old  houses  remain  to  tell  of  former  days.  The  little  cottage  on  the 
Welsh  Road,  occupied  by  Mr.  Ammen,  was  once  the  home  of  kind  "Aunty 
Fales,"  the  mother  of  Mrs.  Hiram  Vandegrift,  who  long  lived  the  next  door 
below. 

BUSTLETON  SOCIETIES. 

(Furnished  by  Benjamin  J.  Maguire.) 

Rising  Star  Lodge,  No.  47,  I.  O.  O.  F.  Instituted,  March  23d,  1832 ;  reor- 
ganized, February  10th,  1875.  Noble  Grand,  Thomas  Bryan ;  Vice-Grand, 
Frederick  C.  Ashton ;  Asst.  Secy.,  E.  Sims  Brous ;  Treasurer,  George  G.  Brooks ; 
Secretary,  Jamison  Lott,  Jr.     Meets  in  Brooks'  Hall. 

Bustleton  Division,  No.  131,  Sons  of  Temperance.  Instituted,  December 
14th,  1869;  reorganized,  September  22d,  1876.  Worthy  Patriarch,  WiUiam 
Nichols;  Worthy  Associate,  William  Collins;  Recording  Scribe,  Mary  E. 
Bevan ;  Treasurer,  Henry  Abbot.     Meets  in  Brooks'  Hall. 

Hand-in-Hand  Castle,  No.  Ill,  Ancient  Order  Knights  of  the  Mystic  Chain. 
Instituted,  January  29th,  1885.  Commander,  Elmer  G.  Brooks;  Vice-Com- 
mander, Paul  Engelman;  First  Lieutenant,  George  Young;  Rec.  and  Cor. 
Scribe,  John  L.  DeKalb;  Treasurer,  Benj.  J.  Maguire.     Meets  in  Brooks' Hall. 

Perseverance  Castle,  No.  390,  Knights  of  the  Golden  Eagle.  Instituted, 
October  22d,  1890.  Noble  Chief,  John  T.  Whitely ;  Vice-Chief,  Jacob  S. 
Knorr;  Sir  Herald,  Chas.  C.  Cookenback ;  Clerk  of  Exchequer,  Benj.  J. 
Maguire ;  Keeper  of  Exchequer,  Elmer  G.  Brooks ;  Master  of  Records,  John  L. 
DeKalb.     Meets  in  Brooks'  Hall. 

Philadelphia  Grange,  No.  645,  Patrons  of  Husbandry.  Instituted,  April 
6th,  1876.  Worthy  Master,  Edmund  Margerum;  Secretary,  Mrs.  Fannie 
Ervin  ;  Treasurer,  John  B.  Kirkbride;  Past  Worthy  Master,  William  Bowler; 
Lecturer,  Robert  Jackson.     Meets  in  Union  Hall. 

Pennepack  Tribe,  No.  305,  Improved  Order  of  Red  Men.  Instituted,  Aug- 
ust 4th,  1891.  Sachem,  Edward  B.  Lingerijian ;  Senior  Sagamore,  Clinton 
Tomlinson ;  Junior  Sagamore,  Elmer  M.  Boileau ;  Prophet,  Joseph  L.  Var- 
nam;  Chief  of  Records,  Benj.  J.  Maguire;  Keeper  of  Wampum,  Elmer  G. 
Brooks.     Meets  in  Union  Hall. 

Pennepack  Association,  No.  305J,  Order  of  Haymakers.  Instituted  Novem- 
ber 10th,  1891.  Chief  Haymaker,  Clinton  Tomlinson ;  Asst.  Chief  Haymaker, 
August  Hentzler;  Overseer,  J.  Horace  Snyder;  Collector  of  Straws,  Benj.  J. 
Maguire ;  Keeper  of  Bundles,  Elmer  G.  Brooks.     Meets  in  Union  Hall 


BUSTLETON.  501 

THE  BUSTLETON  CORNET  BAND, 

has  sixteen  members.  President,  Frederick  C.  Ashton ;  ^''ice  President, 
Frank  Maguire;  Secretary,  Horace  Snyder;  Treasurer  and  Leader,  Frank 
Heller. 

In  driving  from  the  Old  York  Road,  through  Huntingdon  Valley  toward 
Bustleton  on  the  Red  Lion  Road,  the  Lukens  property  is  passed  and  the  farm 
of  Squire  William  Ridge,  a  former  member  of  the  State  Legislature,  and  that 
of  the  late  Norris  Stanley  Saurman,  and  the  Tillyer  Schoolhouse,  while  the 
country  seat  of  Alexander  Knight  Pedrick,  lately  nicely  and  tastefully  im- 
proved, meets  one  at  the  crossing  of  the  Somerton  Pike;  and,  just  below  on 
that  road,  the  farm  of  the  Buckman  family,  and  that  of  Mrs.  Harding,  with 
its  pleasant  modern  house  of  wood  with  mansard  roof  and  pretty  yard ;  this 
is  the  residence  of  herself  and  her  son  Edward  Clifford  Harding.  Opposite  on 
the  Byberry  Pike,  is  Charles  Heller's  farm  and  comfortable  dwelling  with  good 
farm  buildings. 

The  road  to  T.  Miles  Brous's  plow  factory,  near  Mr.  Burk's  finely  kept 
farm,  bears  to  the  right  next  to  Mrs.  Harding's  place  in  approaching  the  vil- 
lage. The  farm  of  Jamison  Lott  is  soon  reached  on  the  turnpike,  where  he 
and  his  son  Jamison  Lott,  Jr.,  reside.  This  once  belonged  to  the  Shearer 
family,  and  Dr.  Marti  ndale's  valuable  History  of  Byberry  and  Moreland 
states  that  the  sword  of  Jacob  Shearer,  who  lived  here,  had  engraved  on  it  in 
German,  the  motto,  "  Trust  in  God."  Some  of  the  ladies  of  this  family  now 
live  in  Bustleton. 

Mr.  Jamison  Lott  has  had  long  experience  in  the  office  of  Highway  Inspec- 
tor. The  Wm.  F.  Dedaker  farm  below  has  not  only  been  much  diminished 
by  the  sale  of  lots,  but  Edwin  Price  has  purchased  a  neat  house,  erected  by 
Mr.  Dedaker,  with  a  part  of  the  farm,  which  he  uses  as  a  truck-farm.  Wm. 
Dedaker,  father  of  Wm.  F.  Dedaker,  formerly  owned  the  farm.  He  was  an 
estimable  man. 

The  fine  farm  which  stretches  in  a  natural  terrace  along  the  rear  of  the 
village  where  the  now  railway  is  to  cut,  belonged  to  Thomas  Tomlinson,  the 
father  of  Isaac  and  Spencer  and  Watson  Tomlinson.  John  was  the  father 
of  Thomas,  and  he  also  owned  it,  so  that  it  had  been  in  the  family  98  years. 
Amos  Simpson,  was  a  previous  ow^ner,  and  Mr.  Northrop  is  believed  to  have 
possessed  it  still  earlier.  Since  its  sale  by  Isaac  Tomlinson,  private  enterprise 
has  opened  a  street  through  it,  and  in  future  years  its  high  grounds  may  con- 
tain residences  or  places  of  business.  Spencer  Tomlinson  has  an  adjoining 
farm  on  the  Welsh  Road.  Watson  Tomlinson  is  a  preacher  among  the 
Friends. 

The  aged  Daniel  Starkey  mentioned  in  these  notes  has  passed  to  his 
heavenly  reward,  and  his  wife  soon  followed  him.  His  son  William  resides  in 
a  pleasant  cottage  in  the  village,  and  another  son  Daniel  S.,  next  to  Edward 


502  BUSTLETON. 

Evans's  place  on  part  of  the  farm  bought  by  the  elder  Daniel  Starkey  of  John 
Trump.  The  father  built  the  dwelling,  and  the  son  now  also  owns  the  small 
farm  opposite.  Daniel  Starkey,  Sr.  lived  formerly  on  Samuel  Starkey's  farm. 
Of  later  years,  he  resided  in  the  village  at  the  corner  of  IIofF  Street  and  the 
turnpike  where  Mrs.  Booth  and  her  daughter  Miss  Booth  noAv  reside.  Mr. 
Curry  was  an  owner  of  the  Samuel  Starkey  farm  before  John  Trump.  John 
Trump  built  the  present  house,  but  Daniel  Starkey,  Sr.  enlarged  it  and  occu- 
pied it.     A  previous  old  house  has  disappeared. 

The  Fulmer  farm,  just  above  General  Huey's  place,  has  lately  been  pur- 
chased by  Samuel  W.  Evans,  Jr.,  a  metal  manufacturer  of  Frankford,  who 
has  greatly  improved  it,  and  erected  an  excellent  farm  house,  and  added  to 
the  farm  buildings.  He  resides  here  in  summer.  Mrs.  Fulmer  and  Mr. 
Bozarth  occupy  the  double  cottage  just  below. 

G.  R.  Neff,  of  Philadelphia,  has  been  a  summer  resident  in  J.  D.  Marshall's 
Queen  Anne  cottage  in  the  village. 

The  house  next  below  the  Baptist  Church  once  belonged  to  Mrs.  John  H. 
Megee,  daughter-in-law  of  Ex-Sheriff  Megee ;  now  it  is  Mrs.  Anderson's  prop- 
erty. 

Isaac  Tomlinson  owns  and  has  lately  improved  the  neat  cottage  next  to  it, 
built  by  that  worthy  Christian  man,  the  late  Jesse  Harding,  and  Charles 
Kohl  owns  the  house  next  in  order,  which  was  built  by  Samuel  Morrison,  who 
now  has  a  new  house  and  tin  and  stove  store  on  Hotf  street. 

Charles  P.  Tomlinson  is  a  general  business  and  real  estate  agent,  having 
connection  with  the  Brick  Works,  and  doing  business  both  in  Bustleton 
and  Philadelphia,  He  is  a  Director  in  the  new  railway.  His  pretty  cottage 
is  nearly  opposite  the  railway  depot. 

The  Bustleton  Brick  Works  were  started  about  four  years  ago  on  Josepli  D. 
Marshall's  farm,  at  Blue  Grass.  Last  May  they  fell  under  the  management 
of  John  F.  McDuffee,  of  Philadelphia,  who  is  now  running  them  to  the  full 
capacity.  They  employ  about  forty  men  and  boys.  The  place  presents  a 
busy  appearance,  and  the  modern  arrangements  of  tiny  railways  to  carry  the 
bricks  into  their  compartments  for  drying  are  useful,  and  expedite  work. 

N.ew  streets  have  been  opened  and  graded  by  the  city. 

The  Pennsylvania  Railroad  is  constructing  a  branch  called  the  Philadel- 
phia and  Bustleton  railway,  from  North  Penn  Junction  to  Bustleton,  and  a 
preliminary  survey  has  been  made  beyond  Bustleton  to  the  vicinity  of  Tully- 
town,  connecting  there  with  the  main  line,  thus  shortening  the  distance 
between  Trenton  and  Philadelphia,  and  making  practically  an  air  line. 

There  is  a  very  promising  outlook  for  this  place  by  reason  of  the  fact  that 
the  new  railway  will  shorten  the  distance  by  rail  to  the  heart  of  the  city  by 
some  four  miles. 

The  section  of  country  through  which  the  railroad  runs  is  a  very 
attractive  rolling  region  both  beautiful  and  healthful  which  must  allure  set- 


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BUSTLETON.  507 

tlement.     Over  forty  houses  have  been  built  here  within  the  last  few  years, 
and  some  of  them  are  of  a  very  neat  style  of  architecture. 

Those  of  John  Kirkbrido,  Joseph  Root  and  George  Lodge  have  enlivened 
the  turnpike,  and  increased  the  length  of  the  town.  A  cottage  built  by  M. 
Rush  Taylor,  and  occupied  by  McCree  Cruser,  next  below  George  Lodge's 
deserves  mention  for  its  architectural  design. 

IMPROVEMENT  ASSOCIATION. 

The  35th  Ward  has  been  influential  in  having  this  new  ward  cut  out  of  the 
old  23d  Ward  to  the  advantage  of  this  section,  and  in  pushing  the  construc- 
tion of  the  fine  Telford  Road  which  connects  Bustleton  with  Holmesburg,  so 
that  the  three  miles  may  be  passed  over  in  a  few  minutes. 

Thos.  Willett  Boileau,  who  had  conducted  a  store  in  Hartsville  for  twelve 
years,  came  to  Bustleton  in  1884,  renting  the  former  store  of  Natlian  Boileau, 
which  he  purchased  about  two  years  ago  of  the  estate,  after  the  death  of  the 
former  owner.  He  enlarged  and  altered  the  building  in  1891.  This  year  he 
admitted  his  son,  Elmer  M.  Boileau,  into  partnership.  Albert  B.  Boileau, 
another  son,  assists  in  conducting  the  business. 

Nathan  Boileau  was  for  some  years  a  merchant  here. 

Walter  Watson  has  long  been  an  expressman,  running  a  wagon  from  Bus- 
tleton to  the  heart  of  the  city. 

John  D.  Gallagher's  Bakery  does  much  to  feed  the  town  and  surrounding 
country, 

J.  R.  Dungan  has  a  feed  and  flour  store  and  coal  yard  next  to  the  depot. 

Edwin  M.  Thomas,  of  Torresdale,  owns  the  coal  and  lumber  yard,  formerly 
the  property  of  George  Hoff's  Sons ;  Watson  T.  Ward  oversees  the  business. 

A.  L.  Boorse  has  a  tin  and  stove  establishment  in  Squire  Gregg's  former 
carriage  factory,  and  Mr.  Henry  Nichols  carries  on  a  blacksmith  shop,  which 
is  about  to  be  left  as  the  new  railway  is  to  cut  here  near  Mr.  Beck's  place.  A 
large  new  shop  has  been  built  for  his  use,  and  that  of  Frederick  C.  Ashton, 
who  is  a  wagon  builder.  William  McMillan,  one  of  the  boss  carpenters  of  the 
village  was  the  builder. 

Mr.  Wm.  H,  Mankin  has  a  saddle  and  harness  shop  on  the  Main  Street. 

William  McMillan,  Grant  Murray,  M.  Rush  Taylor  and  Israel  Knight  are 
boss  carpenters. 

John  Oscar  McMullin,  William  Bevan  and  W.  Quante  are  house-painters. 

S.  Megargle  is  the  shoemaker.  Joseph  L.  Varnam  long  conducted  the 
business,  but  no  longer  continues  it. 

Robert  Neaman  is  a  mason.  John  Boileau  and  Isaac  Wells  long  followed 
that  useful  business  in  the  village. 


508  .  BUSTLETON. 

THE  WIRE  ROPE  WALK  OF  THE  STOW  FLEXIBLE 
SHAFT  COMPANY. 

I  am  indebted  to  the  courtesy  of  Charles  H.  Ferris,  of  Bustleton,  and 
Frederick  SchofF,  of  Philadelphia,  (Treasurer  of  the  Company),  for  an  account 
of  these  works  whicli  have  for  some  time  been  a  striking  feature  in  our  village. 
The  very  long  building  of  wood,  with  its  wooden  tower  stands  on  brick  piers, 
and  was  erected  by  Israel  Knight  as  carpenter,  and  Michael  Kilcoync  as 
mason.  It  is  500  feet  long,  and  has  a  floor  space  of  over  6000  square  feet. 
It  stands  on  a  tract  of  land  containing  nearly  4  acres.  The  building  is  used 
for  winding  and  cutting  the  shaft  into  the  desired  lengths. 

At  26th  and  Caliowhill  Streets,  in  Philadelphia,  the  Company  has  a  fine 
manufactory  for  constructing  tools  and  machines.  The  Company  was  formed 
in  1877,  and  used  a  small  part  of  an  upper  floor  in  one  of  the  buildings  of  the 
Baldwin  Locomotive  Company.  After  struggle  and  loss  for  a  few  years,  as  is 
common  in  new  efforts,  the  present  Treasurer  successfully  undertook  to  con- 
duct the  business.  Quarters  were  changed,  and  more  space  used,  and  finall}'' 
a  plant  established  at  26th,  Caliowhill  and  Biddle  Streets,  where  there  is  a 
floor  space  of  over  13,000  square  feet.  The  shafts  are  sold  as  fast  as  made  in 
all  parts  of  this  country  and  in  Europe.  There  are  agents  in  the  principal 
cities  in  this  country,  and  one  in  London. 

The  flexible  shaft  is  very  useful,  as  it  can  transmit  rotary  motion  to  a  dis- 
tance from  the  power  through  curves,  saving  the  trouble  of  carrying  the  work 
to  the  power.  It  has  been  used  some  twenty  years,  and  thousands  of  the 
shafts  are  in  operation.  The  shaft  is  a  series  of  coils  of  steel  wire  wound  hard 
upon  each  other,  alternate  layers  running  in  opposite  directions,  the  number 
of  wires  varying  according  to  the  required  use.  One  end  is  attached  to  the 
power,  and  the  other  to  the  tool  in  use  for  grinding,  tipping,  drilling,  boring, 
polishing,  brushing,  etc.     It  is  of  great  service  in  S.  S.  White's  dental  engine. 

Near  the  Wire  Rope  Walk,  the  new  improvements  in  the  former  pic-nic 
woods  mentioned  in  an  earlier  part  of  this  account  have  arisen,  while  Mr. 
Baker's  "  green  house  "  performs  its  work  of  use  and  beauty. 

The  following  persons  are  connected  with  the  railroad : 

Station  Master — D.  Edwin  Wine ;  Wm.  H.  Parkinson,  Assistant. 

Conductors — Messrs.  Toy,  Shepherd,  Tyrol,  Van  Dyke.  Brakemen — Cohee, 
Forbes,  Lee,  Pese. 

Baggage  Masters — Edward  Allen,  Robert  Clothier,  Wm.  Yeates  and  J. 
Clements. 

Frederick  Megargee,  Night  Watchman. 

Engineers — McRee  Cruser,  George  Hunt,  Wm.  Carr,  E.  Cavanaugh.  Fire- 
men— John  Ulrich,  Leonard  Haggerty,  Wm.  Vandergrift,  Frank  Cruse. 

The  cottage  which  forms  a  part  of  the  old  stone  depot  is  occupied  by  John 
Edward  Jusiaf  Litzke. 


BUSTLETON.  513 

Charles  L.  Krewson's  carriage  and  wagon  manufactory  in  Main  Street,  was 
built  by  him.  He  bought  the  goodwill  of  the  late  J.  D.  Heritage,  who  had 
conducted  the  business  for  twenty  eight  years.  At  first  John  Wenzell  was  a 
partner,  but  on  his  death  Mr.  Krewson  became  sole  proprietor.  After  a  few 
years  he  left  the  Heritage  shops,  and  removed  to  his  present  location,  where 
the  building  and  repairing  of  carriages  keeps  up  the  ancient  reputation  of  this 
branch  of  mechanical  work  for  which  Bustleton  has  long  been  famous,  and  the 
name  plates  bearing  the  town  mark  have  been  a  recommendation. 

A  former  resident  of  Chestnut  Hill,  John  M.  Fisher,  removed  from  the  farm 
which  he  had  occupied  for  many  years  on  theKrewstown  Road,  near  Penny- 
pack  Baptist  Church,  to  Bustleton,  in  1879. 

Jacob  Mattis,  of  Fox  Chase,  designed  and  erected  the  brown  stone  man- 
sion which  is  the  present  home  of  Mr.  Fisher  and  his  sisters. 

He  has  shown  much  taste  in  the  trees  and  shrubbery  which  adorns  his 
yard. 

Mr.  Fisher  has  been  one  of  the  most  improving  men  in  the  village,  in  pur- 
chasing land  and  dividing  it  into  lots,  and  selling  at  such  rates  as  to  induce 
building ;  and  also  assisted  others  in  building,  so  that  a  large  number  of 
houses  are  the  result  of  his  foresight  and  care. 

The  land  on  which  his  own  residence  stands  was  bought  of  Squire  Joseph 
Banes,  who  was  also  an  improver  in  the  building  line  in  his  day. 

Mr.  Fisher  also  purchased  a  large  portion  of  the  farm  of  J.  Morgan  Dungan. 
He  also  bought  two  other  tracts  of  Squire  Banes,  and  still  another  of  larger 
extent  of  Hon.  George  S.  Clark,  of  Holmesburg,  which  includes  what  was 
long  known  as  the  *'  pic-nic  woods.  "  The  woods  have  disappeared,  and  the 
Wire  Works  now  stand  on  a  part  of  the  Clark  farm. 

Mr.  Fisher  has  dedicated  several  acres  of  land  for  streets,  which  the  City 
.  has  lately  graded,  and  this  is  a  great  benefit  to  this  section. 

The  residence  of  Dr.  George  Byers  is  a  very  pleasant  and  cosy  cottage  of 
wood,  sidrrounded  by  ample  grounds. 

The  Doctor  has  been  for  many  years  a  well  known  practicing  physician  in 
this  region.     He  is  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

The  house  was  built  by  Nathan  Boileau  who  lived  in  it  a  short  time,  and 
Dr.  Byers  purchased  it  after  his  death. 

John  F.  Lodge's  house  opposite,  was  mentioned  in  the  previous  notes.  Mr. 
Lodge  is  an  enterprising  manufacturer  of  Philadelphia,  residing  here,  and 
interested  in  the  factory  at  Lodge's  Mill,  on  the  Pennypack,  on  Axe  Factory 
Road.  He  is  an  old  resident,  having  bought  the  first  ticket  when  the  present 
branch  railroad  was  opened. 

33 


514  BUSTLETON. 

CHAPELCROFT. 

General  Peimock  Huey,  originally  of  Chester  County,  in  1885,  purchased 
a  large  part  of  the  farm  of  the  late  J.  Morgan  Dungan,  and  remodeled  and 
enlarged  the  house,  making  a  cosy  and  comfortable  country  mansion.  The 
building  stands  back  from  the  road  giving  room  for  a  pleasant  lawn  in  front 
and  on  the  upper  side,  diversified  with  trees. 

The  name  of  Chapelcroft  was  given  in  remembrance  of  a  Wain  place  in 
England.  Mrs.  Huey  was  related  to  the  Wains,  her  maiden  name  being 
Elizabeth  Wain  Wistar ;  her  father  was  at  one  time  the  owner  of  Hilton,  near 
Fox  Chase,  now  the  property  of  Dr.  Filbert. 

General  Huey  was  for  four  years  in  the  service  of  the  U.  S.  Army  during 
the  Rebellion,  and  led  the  famous  charge  at  Chancellorsville,  on  May  2d,  1863. 

The  present  Mrs.  Huey  is  a  daughter  of  Dr.  William  Wood  Gerhard,  a  very 
eminent  physician  of  Philadelphia. 

Joseph  Wistar  Huey,  the  elder  son  of  the  General,  is  engaged  as  an  elec- 
trical engineer  in  Philadelphia,  and  his  brother  Mifflin  Wistar,  is  employed 
in  railway  engineering,  in  connection  with  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad. 

The  infant  William  Wood  Gerhard  Huey  now  brightens  the  mansion. 
(Since  these  words  ■were  penned  the  flower  that  bloomed  a  short  time  on  earth, 
was  plucked  by  the  Master  to  bloom  anew  in  Paradise,  the  Garden  of  the 
Lord.) 

Dr.  Wm.  W.  Gerhard,  father  of  Mrs.  Huey,  died  in  1872.  He  was  born  in 
Philadelphia  in  1809,  and  studied  medicine  in  this  country  and  Europe.  He 
assisted  Prof.  Jackson  as  clinical  lecturer  in  the  Philadelphia  Hospital,  and 
was  afterward  visiting  physician  there  for  twenty-five  years.  He  conducted 
the  Medical  Clinic  at  the  Medical  Institute,  and  was  offered  the  chair  of  the 
Practice  of  Medicine  in  Jefferson  College,  which  he  declined.  He  was  "a 
most  able  diagnostician,  "  and  had  a  large  private  practice.  He  wrote  "  Lec- 
tures on  the  Diagnosis,  Pathology  and  Treatment  of  Diseases  of  the  Chest,  " 
which  had  several  editions.  He  published  a  "  Clinical  Guide, "  and  edited 
"  Grove's  System  of  Clinical  Medicine."  He  was  at  one  time  editor  of  the 
American  Journal  of  Medical  Science.  He  "  stood  in  the  front  rank  of  his 
profession. " 

WOODLEIGH 

is  the  beautiful  and  attractive  abode  of  Rev.  Thomas  Crossley  Pearson  and 
wife  and  their  little  daughter  Anne  Norris. 

Eighteen  acres  were  purchased  by  Mr.  Pearson  of  Joseph  D.  Marshall  from 
"  Eckley, "  Judge  John  D.  Coxe's  old  estate  in  1887.  The  Holmesburg  archi- 
tect, Vasquez,  designed,  and  M.  Rush  Taylor,  built  the  remarkably  pretty 
brick  and  shingle  cottage  of  Queen  Anne  Style,  with  its  striking  gables  and 
windows.    The  wide  front   door  of  the  Dutch  pattern  with  its  picturesque 


BUSTLETON.  515 

panels  dividing  into  two  parts  so  that  the  upper  half  may  be  opened  alone,  is 
a  hospitable  entrance  to  the  mansion.  Open  fireplaces  give  cheer  and  com- 
fort, while  steam  heat  adds  its  aid  to  drive  the  Winter's  cold  away.  Ornamen- 
tal wood  mantels  surmount  the  fireplaces.  The  liard  wood  finish  within  is 
natural  and  pleasing. 

A  bay  window  gives  a  cosy  air  to  the  sitting  room. 

The  ample  lawn  runs  to  Blue  Grass  Station,  on  the  Bustleton  Railway,  and 
an  Osage  orange  hedge  lines  the  railway.  The  carriage  entrance  is  on  the 
Blue  Grass  Road. 

Mr.  Pearson  is  the  son  of  Rev.  F.  C.  Pearson  D.  D.,  who  has  been  Chaplain 
for  "  the  Female  Domestic  Missionary  Society  "  for  the  support  of  the  Gospel 
in  the  Blockley  Almshouse  for  nearly  forty  years.  Mrs.  Pearson  is  a  Phila- 
delphian. 

May  the  new  house  have  such  a  pleasant  future  history,  that  in  coming 
days  some  scribe  may  note  it  as  the  happy  home  of  many  who  have  passed 
their  lives  within  its  walls. 

THE  MARSHALL  PLACE. 

Mr.  Joseph  Marshall  was  a  Philadelphian  by  birth,  and  a  silversmith  and 
jeweler  by  profession.  He  entered  on  business  in  the  Slate  Roof  House, 
which  stood  at  Second  Street  and  Norris  Alley,  where  the  Corn  Exchange 
now  stands.  His  partner  was  Robert  Tempest,  the  firm  name  being 
Marshall  and  Tempest. 

Wm.  Penn  occupied  the  Slate  Roof  House  for  a  time.  It  was  one  of  the 
most  famous  mansions  in  Philadelphia,  and  is  described  in  Thompson  Westcott's 
"  Historic  Mansions  of  Philadelphia.  "  The  firm  was  engaged  here  for  over 
fifty  years,  establishing  a  high  reputation.-  Over  thirty  years  ago  Mr. 
Marshall  purchased  a  country  seat  of  Simon  White  whose  family  had  held 
the  place  for  generations. 

The  Welsh  Road  and  Willits  Road  form  a  junction  here,  and  the  point  used 
to  be  called  White's  Corner. 

A  portion  of  the  old  house  remains,  but  it  has  been  enlarged,  after  demol- 
ishing a  part  of  it.  An  aged  Catalpa  tree,  very  close  to  the  house,  has  stood 
for  many  a  year.  A  neat  rustic  lawn,  where  natural  beauty  has  been  pre- 
served, lies  below  the  house. 

Mr.  Marshall  married  Jane  Ford  Donaldson,  of  Wilmington,  Delaware. 
Her  father,  John  Donaldson,  was  a  citizen  of  high  standing  in  that  city. 
Mrs.  Marshall's  aunt,  Mrs.  Dr.  Wm.  Gibbons,  founded  the  House  of  Industry, 
in  Wilmington,  which  became  a  Home  for  Aged  People  ;  as  noted  by  Judge 
Futhey  in  the  History  of  Chester  County.  Mrs.  Marshall  was  a  lady  of  the 
old  school,  of  great  dignity,  and  with  a  kind  heart. 

Mr.  Marshall  died  in  1869,  and  his  wife  in  1892,  in  her  city  home.  The 
children,   Joseph  D.,  Donaldson,  Robert  Tempest,  Margaret  W.,  Mary,  Vir- 


516  BUSTLETON. 

ginia  and  Emma  Marshall,  and  their  sister,  Mrs.  Jane  F.  Owens,  and  their 
niece,  ^liss  Josephine  W.  Marshall,  occupy  the  residence  in  summer. 

Washington  J.,  Rebecca  D.  and  Anna  Marshall,  of  this  family,  are  deceased. 

Donaldson  and  Robert  T.  Marshall  are  in  the  drug  business  in  Philadel- 
phia. Robert  T.  Marshall  is  a  Vestryman  of  St.  Luke's  Memorial  Church, 
Bustleton. 

CONCLUSION. 

And  now  the  work  which  has  occupied  the  mind  of  the  writer  at  intervals, 
during  years,  is  over.  The  pleasant  walks  and  rides  by  carriage  and  railway 
over  many  a  mile  are  finished.  Having  travelled  considerably  in  this  coun- 
try, Eastern  Pennsylvania  still  seems  an  earthly  Paradise  to  the  author. 
Would  that  all  men  could  open  their  spiritual  eyes  to  see  God's  glory  in  his 
varied  handiwork. 

Cordial  interviews  with  new  and  old  friends,  and  kindly  letters  and  com- 
munications for  print  have  cheered  the  task  of  authorship. 

Others  take  vacations  in  Europe,  but  interesting  ones  may  be  had  at 
home,  and  beautiful  spots  near  one's  own  dwelling  are  often  unknown  to  us. 

The  church  histories  given  may  aid  Church  Unity,  or  at  least  Christian 
fellowship,  and  stimulate  generosity,  as  in  the  case  of  Gustavus  Benson 
recorded  in  the  notes  on  the  Fox  Chase  Presbyterian  Church. 

It  is  hoped  that  this  literary  child  will  grow  more  useful  with  age,  and  as 
reader  and  author  part  company  after  their  journeyings,  let  it  be  remem- 
bered that  the  interest  in  such  works,  is  the  interest  in  human  life,  in  joy  and 
pain.  Another  generation  will  soon  occupy  our  houses  and  walk  our  streets, 
God  grant,  for  Christ's  sake,  that  we  may  pass  on  to  the  abiding  country, 
"  Jerusalem,  which  is  above,  *  *  *  the  mother  of  us  all. "  The  Collect  in  the 
Prayer  Book  for  the  4th  Sunday  after  Trinity,  prays  that  under  God's  guid- 
ance "  we  may  so  pass  through  things  temporal  that  we  finally  lose  not  the 
things  eternal. " 


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BERKELEY 

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